Open Letter to Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agr

[Guest guest]

Letter from European Vegetarian Union

 

Dear Dr. Diouf,

 

 

 

In a press release dated 21 March 2005 and titled 'Water for Life', the FAO

referred to 'appropriate policies needed to make better use of water'

because it 'takes one tonne of water to produce one kilogram of wheat'.

 

 

 

The European Vegetarian Union wants to point out that the water requirement

for the production of meat is even very much higher and therefore well worth

mentioning.

 

 

 

Already last April, the Stockholm International Water Institute declared

"that agriculture will need huge amounts of additional water. Water for

agriculture is therefore going to be a BIG issue in the next few decades."

1)

 

 

 

In their 2004-report "The global benefits of eating less meat" 2), the

Compassion in World Farming Trust explains: "In his book, Cadillac Desert:

the American West and its disappearing water, Marc Reisner argues that a

pound of beef requires 20 to 80 times more water than the 100 to 250 gallons

needed to produce 1 lb of corn. New Scientist (18 May 2002) quotes a 1998

study in Forbes magazine stating that it takes 50,000 litres of water to

produce 1 kg of beefsteak. David Pimentel, a water resource specialist at

Cornell University, believes this to be a considerable underestimate and

puts the figure at 100,000 litres of water per kilo of beef (compared to 500

l for 1 kilo of potatoes, 900 l for wheat and alfalfa, 1100 l for sorghum,

1400 l for maize, 1910 l for rice, and 2000 l for soya beans).

 

 

 

In this context it is worth mentioning that a large percentage of the global

grain harvest is not destined for hungry people but is fed to animals. The

same is true for 90 percent of Brazil's soya beans which are grown by

destroying large parts of rain forests.

 

 

 

FAO declared that the "agriculture sector faces a complex challenge" and

listed a series of feasible improvements. Unfortunately neither a reduction

in meat consumption nor vegetarianism is under scrutiny or even discussed.

This omission is very regrettable since, in the quest for a more sustainable

and humane diet, "one person's 100 per cent reduction can help to

'subsidise' 6 people who haven't yet reduced their meat consumption at all."

2)

 

 

 

The European Vegetarian Union appeals to you personally to consider new

promising alternatives and have vegetarianism, a compassionate and

beneficial way of life, now seriously investigated.

 

 

 

Thank you very much.

 

 

 

Sincerely

 

 

 

Renato Pichler

 

Acting President

 

European Vegetarian Union

 

 

 

Sent by: European Vegetarian Union - Secretariat

 

26, Rue Moncoureur

 

B 7011 Ghlin

 

Tel. 00 32 65 362584

 

<http://www.european-vegetarian.org/> www.european-vegetarian.org

 

 

 

1) 2004 Stockholm Water Symposium

 

http://www.siwi.org/press/presrel_04_SWS%20Conclusions.htm

 

 

 

 

2) Compassion in World Farming Trust: The global benefits of eating less

meat (2004)

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