Throughout the 20th century, global water use has increased in the agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors. Evaporation from reservoirs has increased at a slower rate. Projections indicate that both global water use and evaporation will continue to increase. This graphic compares industrial and domestic water consumption as a whole with evaporation from reservoirs, in cubic kilometres per year. The time period covered is 1900 to 2010 (asses...

Throughout the 20th century, global water use has increased in the agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors. Evaporation from reservoirs has increased at a slower rate. Projections indicate that both global water use and evaporation will continue to increase. This graphic shows water consumption, withdrawal and waste, in cubic kilometres per year, for the agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors, and shows evaporation from reservoirs. T...

Why would any country import goods already produced at home or nearby? One explanation is straight forward: It may be cheaper to buy abroad than produce locally or the necessary know-how is not available locally. In some cases a famous brand or the country of origin is a guarantee of quality.

Under current water use practices, increases in population and changes in diet are projected to increase water consumption in food and fiber production by 70-90%. If demands for biomass energy increase, this may aggravate the problem. In addition, sectoral competition for water resources will intensify, further exacerbating the stress on developing country producers.

Water is essential not only to survival but is also equally or even more important than nutrients in food production. Agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of the water consumption, with some estimates as high as 85% (Hanasaki et al., 2008a,b). Water scarcity will affect over 1.8 billion people by 2025 (WHO, 2007). This could have major impacts on health, particularly in rural areas, and thus also major impacts on farmer productivity. Althoug...

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiographic, and climatic characteristics. Analysis indicates that: - Annual global freshwater withdrawal has grown from 3,790 km3 (of which consumption accounted for 2,070 km3 or 61%) in 1995, to 4,430 km3 (of which consumption accounted for 2,304 km3 or 52%) in 2000 (Shiklomanov, 1999). - In 2000, about 57% of the world’s freshw...