The Facts

• Humanity faces a massive food and economic crisis amid worsening water shortages, particularly in regions producing 25-50% of the world's food crops.

• A report published Wednesday by the OECD-backed Global Commission on the Economics of Water said the crisis may cut high-income nations' GDP by 8%.

• Low-income nations' GDP could fall by 15% as the effects of changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, and lack of access to clean water wreak havoc, it reported.