Agricultural journalist Julian Cribb forecasts a perilous destiny for the world’s river basins and food baskets, a destiny he attributes to climate change and unchecked agricultural demand for water.
Consider Australia’s Murray-Darling, where iconic forests of red gum trees have gone skeletal from thirst. In small towns across the basin, farmers and residents worry their livelihoods may soon share the fate of their beloved gum trees. Cribb, also a professor of science communication at the University of Technology in Sydney, thinks the time has come to manage river basins with efficiency and environmental sensitivity. Farmers, whom he cites as primary managers, must rapidly begin sharing good ideas on a global scale.
Video by Aaron Jaffe, reach him at info@circlefofblue.org. For a complete list of credits, acknowledgements and other resources related to Circle of Blue’s coverage of “The Biggest Dry” please click here.