Half of all global food threatened by growing water crisis, report says

The world has a worsening water crisis, and half of all food production will be at risk of failure by the middle of this century.

That’s the worrying message from a major international study released Wednesday.

Half of the world’s population already faces water scarcity, and that proportion is growing, too, according to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which is funded by the Dutch government and facilitated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — a group of the world’s richest economies.

While water scarcity will have a seismic effect on humans and the environment, it will also have an economic impact. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water estimates that a lack of clean water due to climate change and the chronic mismanagement of land could cut global economic growth by 8% on average, almost double the losses in lower-income countries.

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“The global water crisis is a tragedy but is also an opportunity to transform the economics of water — and to start by valuing water properly so as to recognize its scarcity,” a co-chair of the commission, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, said in a statement.

With nearly 3 billion people living in areas experiencing unstable water trends and several cities sinking because of the loss of belowground water, densely populated areas such as northwestern India, northeastern China, and southern and eastern Europe will bear the brunt of global water mismanagement, the report says. 

Part of the problem is a lack of collective will among governments and businesses, as well as market forces that treat water like a commodity, Mariana Mazzucato, a professor and founding director of the University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, told NBC News.

“We can do it. We’ve just chosen not to because we have inertia, because we have profits being made from not dealing with the crisis. Some 80% of wastewater isn’t recycled,” Mazzucato said.

“Like many problems, including climate change, biodiversity and health pandemics, we can turn those problems into massive opportunities for investment,” she added.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the government of the Netherlands set up the water economics research body in 2022, with Dutch lawmakers giving it enough funding to operate for two years and deliver this week's report, which will be its last. The OECD says it wants to explore continuing the commission's work in collaboration with other organizations.

One glaring absence from the world’s response the release highlights is the lack of any coordinated approach to dealing with water crises. Last year, the United Nations held its first water conference in 50 years, and only last month did it appoint a special envoy on water. 

“The global water crisis is a ticking time bomb. If we do not tackle it now, the cost of inaction will be felt by us all,” Tim Wainwright, U.K. chief executive of the international nongovernmental organization WaterAid, said in a statement. “Tackling this crisis requires government leadership, finance and the coordination of donors, private sector and affected communities worldwide to drive the crucial action needed.”

Among the report’s recommendations are transforming how water is used in farming — improving efficiency and shifting from animal-based diets — as well as restoring natural habitats and treating and renewing more wastewater.

Even so, a lack of public funds’ being devoted to water issues around the world will do little to solve the problem. Governments “can’t even react to the symptoms of the water problem, let alone solve the problems if they’re being fiscally strangled,” said Mazzucato, of University College London.

Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images

The impact of climate change appears frequently in the report, with water systems being the first to show the impact of changing weather patterns. In recent years, the Amazon has experienced more droughts, mountain glaciers have melted, and Europe has suffered more floods.

Parts of the U.S. have felt increasing pressure on their water systems, with droughts, floods and aging infrastructure affecting farming and leaving some areas with a lack of clean drinking water. North Carolina experienced its own water crisis in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which washed away parts of its infrastructure. 

Last year, extreme precipitation — most likely made worse by climate change — hammered nearly every corner of the U.S. For every degree Fahrenheit of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 3% to 4% more moisture. With global temperatures 2.43 degrees higher last year than in preindustrial times, today’s storms can deliver a stronger punch.

In September last year, New York City got 7 inches of rain in 24 hours, submerging buses and shuttering rail travel.

Reuters contributed.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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