The world is running out of water and needs a radical plan to tackle shortages that threaten the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to Jeffrey Sachs, director of the UN's Millennium Project.

Professor Sachs, who is credited with sparking pop star Bono's crusade for African development, told an environment conference in Delhi that the world simply had "no more rivers to take water from".

The breadbaskets of India and China were facing severe water shortages and neither Asian giant could use the same strategies for increasing food production that has fed millions in the last few decades.

"In 2050 we will have 9 billion people and average income will be four times what it is today. India and China have been able to feed their populations because they use water in an unsustainable way. That is no longer possible," he said.

The British government has been trying to persuade a reluctant New Delhi to embrace green technology. Officials in India still talk about the need for accelerating growth and see tackling climate change as a brake on the economy.

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/water/story/0,,1996211,00.html

[Environmental conservation is hurting the profits. That's why we need population growth to compensate, to provide us with plentiful of new consumers.]