Solution: a new economics of water 8% GDP loss by 2050 due to world water crisis

Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management reported that the flow of the Amazon River (in photo) has been reduced by up to 90 percent due to the alarming lack of rainfall. PHOTO BY LUIS ACOSTA VIA AFP

“THE Economics of Water: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good,” a report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW), says the water crisis will put at risk more than half of the world’s food production by 2050. It also estimates an 8-percent loss of gross domestic product (GDP) in countries worldwide on average by 2050, with as much as a 15-percent loss in lower-income countries and even larger economic consequences beyond.