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.
Human Development Index ( HDI ) 2021 measures the average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth. The education dimension is measured by the mean of years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and more, along with expected years of schooling for children of school entering age. The standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per capita. The pandemic dealt a serious blow to human development worldwide. In the 2021 index, 90% of countries saw their HDI value drop. Only a third of very high HDI countries saw a decline in 2021 (compared with over 90% in 2020), whereas HDI scores of 60% of low, medium and high HDI countries declined.
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