We are living in an increasingly water stressed and water scarce world, with dire implications for ecosystems, economies, and communities worldwide. Scientists have recently warned of an alarming and unprecedented escalation in global drought and aridity over the past few decades.
A 2022 UN report found that since 1970, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all global disasters and a staggering 45 percent of all reported deaths, with drought leading to the most human deaths during this period. The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 percent since 2000, compared to the two previous decades.
With more than 2.3 billion people already facing water stress or scarcity, droughts are among the greatest threats to human health and food security, especially in developing countries, but increasingly so in developed nations as well.
A related crisis is the surge in aridity. “Unlike droughts—temporary periods of low rainfall—aridity represents a permanent, unrelenting transformation,” notes Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). “Droughts end. When an area’s climate becomes drier, however, the ability to return to previous conditions is lost. The drier climates now affecting vast lands across the globe will not return to how they were and this change is redefining life on Earth.”
Thiaw spoke in the context of a groundbreaking new report by the UNCCD that identifies human-caused climate change as the overwhelming driver of this shift. “For the first time, the aridity crisis has been documented with scientific clarity, revealing an existential threat affecting billions around the globe.”
Drought and aridity have profound implications for human (and nonhuman) health and wellbeing. The global water crisis threatens more than half of the world’s food production over the next 25 years, potentially leading to widespread food shortages. Beyond hydration needs for mere survival, lack of access to clean water for drinking and sanitation increases the occurrence of waterborne diseases, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. Water scarcity adversely impacts economic security and development, particularly in agriculture-dependent communities, and frequently leads to violent conflicts over water resources in stressed regions.
Water scarcity also leads to large-scale forced migration and displacement. As land becomes increasingly uninhabitable and agricultural production collapses, families and entire communities must often abandon their homes. In South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, millions are already on the move—a trend the UNCCD warns is only set to intensify over the coming decades.
So what can we do? At the individual level, one of the most immediate and impactful actions we can take is to choose plant-based foods. According to Dana Hunnes, PhD, a food and diet expert at UCLA Sustainability, a plant-based diet reduces water consumption by at least 50 percent. She notes that:
- 1 pound of beef requires anywhere between 2000 and 8,000 gallons of water to produce.
- Similarly, 1 gallon of cow’s milk requires 1950 gallons of water.
- Conversely, 1 pound of tofu requires 302 gallons of water to produce,
- and 1 pound of unprocessed oats requires 290 gallons of water.
The UNCCD’s Ibrahim Thiaw reiterates the urgency of our food choices when it comes to mitigating the water crisis, noting: “We need to protect and manage lands through improved consumption and production practices. On the agriculture side, this means sustainable and efficient management techniques that grow more food on less land and with less water. On the consumption side, this means changing our relationships with food, fodder and fiber, moving toward plant-based diets, reducing or stopping the consumption of animals.”