Members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a global network of farm improvement centers, met in Nairobi, Kenya, this week to launch a new campaign to solve the worldwide problem of water scarcity.

Scientists at the meeting warned that fewer and fewer people around the globe will have access to clean, safe water unless governments and humanitarian groups take action to address the problem. Mark Rosegrant is an official with the US based International Food Policy Research Institute, one of 16 centers run by the Consultative Group. Mr. Rosegrant says that the water crisis is especially serious in sub-Saharan Africa, where water infrastructure and management systems can’t keep up with household demand.

“The number of people without access to clean water will increase dramatically – from 150-million to 400-millin by 2025. On the food side we are seeing that we are likely to have an increase in the number of malnourished children in sub-Saharan Africa, from 33-million now to 37-million in 2025.

The meeting in Nairobi brought together national and international research institutions under the Challenge Program, an initiative designed to find ways of improving the productivity of water in environmentally sustainable ways.

Research projects will be spread over nine major river basins in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America. The river basins will serve as living laboratories, where the impact of the research can be closely monitored.

In October 50 research proposals were approved for funding under the Challenge Program. Close to 60 million dollars has already been committed by donors to the program. The goal is to raise 60 million dollars more during the first six-year research phase.