By Martin Armstrong for Statista Water is not only the basis of life for animals and plants but is also likely to become a contested resource in parts of the world in the coming decades, reports Statista. According to UN figures, global water stress, i.e. the proportion of water withdrawn for use in industry, agriculture or private households in relation to available water, was manageable at 18.2% in 2020. In 2022, however, 2.4bn people were living in areas that are exposed to extreme water stress in some cases. It is not possible to determine exactly how high this will be by 2050 due to numer…