Importing goods, exporting drought?


The scale of global water consumption needed to produce what we use and consume has a dramatic impact around the world.

From the food we eat to the clothes we wear, discover the hidden cost of Britain's consumption? 

ANDY WALES Head of Sustainability, SABMiller 

ROBIN FARRINGTON WWF UK

GEORGE ALAGIAH BBC presenter of the BBC Six O'Clock News

  • TALKS
  • FOCUSDr Chad Staddon - our use of water
  • 60 SECONDSThe Aral Sea
  • INTERVIEWS
  • NEWSWater becomes the new oil as world runs dry

Andy Wales, Head of Sustainable Development for SABMiller

Andy Wales discusses the importance of water in the production of beer at SABMiller. Explaining the ways SABMiller are working to reduce their water footprint.

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Robin Farrington, WWF

Robin Farrington discusses the importance of water as a resource and the dangers we face in the future from its misuse.

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Audience Question 1

Where is the incentive for industry and businesses to be green as opposed to always looking for growth?

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Introduction by George Alagiah

Chair, George Alagiah begins the discussion on the often overlooked water footprint of the goods we all consume. Before introducing Robin Farrington and Andy Wales

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Audience Question 2

Should the international community impose a levy on countries with a high water footprint, to subsidise sustainable and efficient agricultural technology across the world?

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Audience Question 3

Does SABMiller use water from archaeological aquifers?

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Audience Question 4

Should we consider water like a precious commodity in the way in which we do with oil?

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Audience Question 5

Does SABMiller install water recycling infrastructure consistantly across all your breweries?

How does SABMiller choose where to site its breweries?

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Audience Question 6

Is it easier to get planning permission for a brewery in areas of water scarcity if the company have strong environmental and water policies?

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Audience Question 7

Is WWF planning to help individuals, especially in the developing world, to reconnect with the value and scarcity of water?

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Audience Question 8

What are your thoughts on the building of dams on the Salween, Yanztee and Mekong rivers in China?

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Audience Question 9

When do you think water will run out and can you forsee conflict over water resources?

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Audience Question 10

What are your thoughts on ways to increase our freshwater resources?

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Audience Question 11

Do you think there should be an enforcable human right to water?

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Dr Chad Staddon - our use of water

Dr Chad Staddon - our use of water

Discussing our often overlooked consumption of water in Britain

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Interview with Professor Tim Lang

Interview with Professor Tim Lang

We sat down with Professor Tim Lang, Food Policy expert and government advisor…

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Meet our panel

Meet our panel

Read the biographies for the 'Importing goods, exporting drought' event. Including BBC's George…

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The hidden cost of what we consume

The hidden cost of what we consume

Water is an essential resource, but the scale of global water consumption needed…

more »
The Aral Sea

The Aral Sea

Read about the environmental impacts of over use of water…

more »
The hidden cost of what we consume

The hidden cost of what we consume

Read about the hidden cost of what we eat, drink…

more »
What is virtual water?

What is virtual water?

Read a 60 second guide to 'virtual water', the water…

more »

Dr Chad Staddon - our use of water

Discussing our often overlooked consumption of water in Britain

watch video »

Interview with Professor Tim Lang

We sat down with Professor Tim Lang, Food Policy expert…

watch video »

Water shortages the biggest barrier to increasing production

  • Source: The Ecologist
  • Icon: Script 29th April 2010

The real issue in food production is not whether we should go for intensive agriculture, GM crops or organic but future water availability, says an environmental think-tank

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UK water use ‘worsening global crisis’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 19th April 2010

The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported to developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world, a report says. The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders.

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Meat wastes water, creates greenhouse gases and could become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving

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the water footprint of bio energy

  • Source: PNAS
  • Icon: Script 3rd September 2009

A new Dutch study has assessed the water requirements of 13 bioenergy crops across the world.

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Will there be a ‘perfect storm’ in 2030?

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 24th August 2009

As the world's population grows, competition for food, water and energy will increase. Food prices will rise, more people will go hungry, and migrants will flee the worst-affected regions.

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Water reform is ‘needed in Asia’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 18th August 2009

Asia must reform its water use to feed 1.5 billion extra people by 2050, says a new report. The authors warn that without big changes to irrigation many nations will have to import food.

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Water policies suffer sinking feeling

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 18th August 2009

Rising populations, improving lifestyles and changes to the global climate are all increasing the pressure on the planet's water resources. Conservation expert Brian Richter explains why there is an urgent need for the world to embrace new ways in which it uses water.

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Britain must not bury its head in the sand over food supplies, warns the environment, food and rural affairs committee

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Extent of agricultural land-grab revealed on new website

  • Source: The Ecologist
  • Icon: Script 22nd June 2009

With rich, resource-poor nations increasingly outsourcing their food production to less developed nations, a new website aims to expose the extent of the agricultural land-grab epidemic. South Korea’s biggest is 1.3 million hectares in Madagascar. China’s is 1.24 million in the Philippines. Qatar’s most problematic is 40,000 hectares in Kenya. We’re talking breadbaskets, parcels of land bought in poorer countries where food is grown to feed foreign markets.

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As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 15th June 2009

The rivers that made Iraq's dry soil so fertile are drying up because the supply of water, which once flowed south into Iraq from Turkey, Syria and Iran, is now held back by dams and used for irrigation. On the Euphrates alone, Turkey has five large dams upriver from Iraq, and Syria has two.

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Hosepipe ban extended after 60 years

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 23rd April 2009

Hosepipe bans will be extended so households cannot fill swimming pools, wash windows or clean the patio during a dry spell as part of new legislation to deal with the increased threat of droughts and flooding.

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Climate change and population growth could lead to serious shortages without universal metering, warns chief executive

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Major project for Xinjiang province amid concerns over future water supply

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Droughts ‘may lay waste’ to parts of US

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 26th February 2009

The world's pre-eminent climate scientists produced a blunt assessment of the impact of global warming on the US yesterday, warning of droughts that could reduce the American south-west to a wasteland and heatwaves that could make life impossible even in northern cities.

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L.A.’s water emergency

  • Source: LA Times
  • Icon: Script 13th February 2009

Recent rains mean nothing; the city must get serious about dealing with water shortages.

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Solution for the world’s water woes

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 10th February 2009

Rising populations and growing demand is making the world a thirsty planet, says David Molden. In this week's Green Room, he says the solution lies in people reducing the size of their "water footprints".

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UK adds to drain on global water sources

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 20th August 2008

Water, or lack of it, has moved rapidly up the agenda for British businesses. A report published today by the environmental group WWF highlights why the issue is suddenly being taken so seriously. UK Water Footprint calculates for the first time how much water British consumers use, not just directly, but also indirectly due to the large volumes required to produce the globally-sourced, all year round foods and textile fibres which we now take for granted.

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Where Britain’s water footprint falls most heavily

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 20th August 2008

Two thirds of the water needed to produce the UK's food and clothes is used in other countries

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Importing food means exporting drought

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 20th August 2008

We need to change the way we eat if we are to tackle the looming catastrophe of water scarcity

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Revealed: the massive scale of UK’s water consumption

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 20th August 2008

Each Briton uses 4,645 litres a day when hidden factors are included

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Forget carbon: you should be checking your water footprint

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 21st April 2008

Ethical shopping just got harder – but the latest attempt to help conscientious consumers calculate their impact on the environment could do more to preserve scarce resources than all its predecessors.

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The hidden water we use

  • Source: National Geographic

You might be suprised how much water it takes to create the products and food we consume. See how it all adds up.

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Western companies have the know-how - and the financial incentive - to supply water to poor nations. But, as Richard Wachman reports, their involvement is already provoking unrest

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