Water is one of the most contested resources in the world, and the geographies of water supply and demand ask crucial questions about the increasing insecurity of supplies and the conflicts that surround increasing demand and competition for water.

The importance of water in the production of food crops is a topic that is of interest to resource and population geographers all over the world.  Issue 6 of ESRC’s Society Now (p22) contained a feature about water governance, looking at some of the social and political aspects:

“One solution to the growing water crisis is addressing the growth of water-hungry crops in areas of the world where the water supply cannot meet demand. Central Asia continues to produce export cotton from plantations which have decimated the Aral Sea.  Professor Tony Allan from King’s College London was the first researcher to identify this concept of ‘virtual water’ which drains precious water resources. He devised a system for measuring how much water is used in food production and manufacturing. For example, 1,700 litres of water are needed to produce just 500g of rice.”

You can read more about the idea of “virtual water” and the challenges of competing water uses on the 21^st Century Challenges website.

Students from local schools were recently treated to a ‘mystery tour’ of key sites within Sheffield’s waste-energy infrastructure, which was followed by the creation of sculptures on the themes of incineration and recycling.  The event was organised by the Waste of the World project as part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science, and you can read more about it here.

Waste and recycling continue to be hot topics for geography.  You might like to check out these other resources:

• Is banning plastic bags a significant and viable step towards climate change?
• The global movement of packaging & waste
• Me and my Mobile – understanding the life-cycle of products and e-waste