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Environment
Published in Pamela Mason, Tim Lang, Sustainable Diets, 2017
Water scarcity is a growing problem. The United Nations Environment Programme estimated in 2007 that, by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity and, by 2050, 54 countries would be in absolute water stress, affecting 40% of the future population.71 Those prognoses still hold. Water availability is susceptible to impacts from climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that as soon as 2020 some African countries may witness decreases in yields of up to 50% from rain-fed agriculture owing to climate change.12
Water scarcity *
Published in Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse, Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
Water scarcity is the absence of sufficient water to meet human and ecological needs. Defining water scarcity in a way that can be assessed quantitatively, meaningful in different contexts and based in sound science and good quality data, is not simple. Water resources in different parts of the world include surface water, groundwater, soil moisture, snow and glaciers, all of which vary within and between years. Water resources are most often assessed on a catchment or watershed scale, which rarely correspond to political boundaries. Demand for water is determined by population, climate, lifestyles and economic activity. Agreeing upon a definition of water scarcity that reasonably reflects the seriousness of the problem of over-exploitation of water resources, without diverting attention away from problems of water distribution and economic development, has been the basis of considerable and ongoing debate amongst water professionals and policy makers since the 1980s (see for example, Falkenmark et al. 1989, Arnell 2004, Molden et al. 2007 and Vörösmarty et al. 2000).
Impact of polyculture in aquaponics on the hemato-serological and health status of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2023
Aya H. Khalil, Ahmed E. A. Badrey, Ahmed S. Harabawy, Ahmed Th. A Ibrahim, Werner Kloas, Alaa G. M. Osman
Aquaculture in Egypt could meet the rising need for protein, according to the current fish output, and has been experiencing unprecedented growth during the last decade [5,6]. Aquaculture necessitates a large amount of water, which raises issues in the context of the worldwide water problem. A typical moderately intensive aquaculture sector uses roughly 10.3 m3 of water per kilogram of fish produced [7]. Egypt’s water scarcity is steadily worsening, posing a severe danger to the country’s food security. Geopolitical factors, population expansion, and climate change are all factors that encourage people in Egypt to seek innovative solutions to the problem of feeding future generations. Aquaponics is a good alternative answer that presented itself powerfully as part of the hunt for unorthodox solutions to Egypt’s food dilemma. Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. It is the symbiotic cultivation of aquatic animals and plants, benefiting the economic yield [8].
Multi-parametric groundwater quality and human health risk assessment vis-à-vis hydrogeochemical process in an Agri-intensive region of Indus basin, Punjab, India
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Vijay Jaswal, Ravishankar Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, Sunil Mittal, Ajay Kumar, Sunil Kumar Sahoo, Yogalakshmi Kadapakkam Nandabalan
According to the United Nations Sustainable Development report (UNSD 2017), approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide are deprived of safe drinking water. The 2030 agenda for sustainable development has adopted clean water and sanitation as one of the sustainable development goals and propounded that water scarcity would displace around 700 billion people worldwide by 2030. Water scarcity and deteriorating water quality have loomed into a massive threat to people around the world. Around half of the world's total population depends on groundwater as a drinking resource (Shukla and Saxena, 2020a, 2020b). The United Nations (UN) report (2015) states that the groundwater that accounts for 0.61% of total water resource serves 43% of global irrigation in addition to serving the drinking needs. Increasing demand of water for drinking, irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes has deteriorated the groundwater levels to become a major concern in 21st century (Oki and Akana 2016, Kawo and Karuppannan 2018).
Drought-related cholera outbreaks in Africa and the implications for climate change: a narrative review
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2022
Gina E. C. Charnley, Ilan Kelman, Kris A. Murray
Relying on agriculture can become tenuous during droughts, reducing food security through crop failures and livestock losses [17,28]. For example, during 1991–1992, 370,000 cattle were lost in Zimbabwe, crop production in Namibia fell by 70% and Botswana’s maize crop failed [28]. This leads to subsequent famine and malnutrition, decreasing host immune response and heightening the risk of cholera and other infectious diseases [26,36]. Drought and subsequent water scarcity lead to using different sources of food and water. For example, in Mali millet gruel is commonly eaten and acidified with curdled goat milk to prevent contamination, but in times of drought goat milk is often not available, along with several other acidifying ingredients such as lemon, tamarind, and vinegar. Famine foods are also often cooked less to preserve fuel [17]. The lack of available food increases reliance on roadside food vendors [30], which have been shown to increase cholera transmission in other outbreaks [37], often due to poor food hygiene practices, poor regulation, and no enforcement of bans.