Water Footprint measures the amount of water used in producing a unit of goods/services that we use.

The water footprint per kg of animal products is generally higher than crop products. The water footprint of meat from beef cattle (15,400 litres/kg as a global average) is much larger than the footprint of vegetables which stands at 322 litres/kg (average).

The increase in production and consumption of animal products puts additional stress on the freshwater reserves. Especially in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, according to the World Bank, this region is expected to suffer an economic loss of 6-14% of GDP by 2050 from climate-related water scarcity.

According to the UN:- 

1) 2.3 billion people live in water-stressed countries, of which 733 million live in high and critically water-stressed countries.
2) 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high water shortages or scarcity, of whom 1.2 billion people – roughly one-sixth of the world’s population – live in severely water-constrained agricultural areas.
3) About 4 billion people, representing nearly two-thirds of the global population, experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year.
 

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