An unexpectedly abrupt decline in the supply of water for China's farmers poses a rising threat to world food security. China depends on irrigated land to produce 70 percent of the grain for its huge population of 1.2 billion people, but it is drawing more and more of that water to supply the needs of its fast-growing cities and industries. As rivers run dry and aquifers are depleted, the emerging water shortages could sharply raise the country's demand for grain imports, pushing the world's total import needs beyond exportable supplies.

Any major threat to China's food self-sufficiency, if not addressed by strong new measures, would likely push up world grain prices, creating social and political instabilities in Third World cities-as previous WORLD WATCH articles have pointed out (see commentary). New information on the deteriorating water situation has confirmed the imminence of this possibility. The challenge now facing the Chinese government is how to meet the soaring water needs of its swelling urban and industrial sectors without undermining both its own agriculture and the world's food security.

More information at: http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/1998/98-4a.html