Threat of vegetarianism hanging over the world because of the lack of water and food

Water scarcity affects food production and can have a dramatic impact on the eating habits of a growing population on the planet. In 2050, when world population expected to reach 9 billion people, the water will not be sufficient to produce the required quantities of food and humanity can be forced to go almost entirely vegetarian diet, writes the newspaper "The Guardian".

Now people get 20% of their protein from meat products, but by 2050 this percentage may drop to 5 for droughts, water scarcity and food.

The paper refers to a report by scientists from the International Institute for Water in Stockholm. The document was released, he began for the annual conference in the Swedish capital water. There are 2500 met politicians, representatives of UN agencies, non-governmental groups, scientists from 120 countries. They will discuss the problems facing the planet's water supply.

The report by Swedish experts said that the passage of a vegetarian diet will result in saving water because vegetarian menu requires five to ten times less water than the production of protein-rich foods of animal origin.

Water shortages are very much this year because of drought in the U.S. and Russia.

Scientists warning comes at a time when the NGO Oxfam and UN agencies warn that there may be a second global food crisis. The prices of basic food commodities like corn and wheat rose by nearly 50 percent in international markets since June, driven by drought in the United States and Russia and weakest monsoon rains in Asia. Over 18 million people are already facing serious problems of food shortages in the Sahel region in Africa.

According to Oxfam, food shortages and rising food prices will have a devastating impact on developing countries, which rely heavily on imported food, including in parts of Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East. Food shortages in 2008 sparked the riots in 28 countries around the world, recalls the newspaper "The Guardian".

Adopting a vegetarian is only one way to solve the problems posed by water scarcity and food shortages. Swedish experts recommend that emit less food and to increase trade between the countries suffering from nutritional deficiency and countries stifled by food surplus.

Nine million people are starving and two billion suffer from malnutrition, the researchers said. They stressed that, however paradoxical it may seem, three trends show a growing worldwide - malnutrition and disposal of food and overeating. (BTA)