The World in 2030

The World in 2030 17
I like to speculate on the possibility that we could
synthesize all the food needed by eight billion people,
and thereby abandon agriculture…
The chemicals for food synthesis would come directly
from the air, or more conveniently from carbon
compounds sequestered from power station effluent,
and all that we would need in addition would be water
and trace elements. 14
Another factor that will have a major impact on food
production methods is climate change, but the impact
of this is harder to predict and will vary from region to
region. Suffice to say that technological advances in food
production methods will continue to have the potential to
feed the Earth’s enormously expanded population even if,
in some of the world’s poorest regions, poverty, corruption,
bad politics and conflict (and, in some areas, acute climate
change) will continue to cause widespread famine. Drinking
water, on the other hand, is often forecast to be in very short
supply in some parts of the world (fresh water accounts for
only 2.5 per cent 15 of all the water in the world and most of
that is frozen). Today, over one billion people worldwide do
not have access to clean drinking water. Disease resulting
from contaminated water leads to 1.8 million deaths every
year and can account for 80 per cent of all illnesses in
developing countries. 16
The pressures on water are well illustrated by the
following report published by US Nation & World Report
in May 2007: