We need to talk about water - and the fact that the world is running out of it | George Monbiot

On a planet getting hotter and drier by the year, governments are wilfully ignoring a looming crisisThere's a flaw in the plan. It's not a small one: it is an Earth-sized hole in our calculations. To keep pace with the global demand for food, crop production needs to grow by at least 50% by 2050. In principle, if nothing else changes, this is feasible, thanks mostly to improvements in crop breeding and farming techniques. But everything else is going to change.Even if we set aside all other issues - heat impacts, soil degradation, epidemic plant diseases accelerated by the loss of genetic diversity - there is one which, without help from any other cause, could prevent the world's people from being fed. Water. Continue reading...