Food Security and Climate Change Flashcards
What is food security?
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
What is food insecurity?
A situation that exists when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy lifestyle.
What are the three gaps that need to be bridged to achieve food security?
The Food Gap
The increase above the amount of food (measured as crop calories) produced in 2010 to the amount that the world will require in 2050, based on projected demand.
The land gap
The land gap is the difference between the projected area of land needed to meet global food demand in 2050 and the amount of land in agricultural use in 2010.
The GHG mitigation Gap
The difference between agriculture-related GHG emissions projected for 2050 and an agricultural emissions target for 2050 that is necessary to help stabilize the climate at globally agreed targets.
What are the drivers of the food gap?
Population Growth (from 7 billion to 9.8 billion people) Increasing demand for more resource-intensive foods, particularly animal-based foods, as income grows. Consumption of milk and meat – foods that rely heavily on pasture for their production – is likely to grow by 68%
How can we close the good gap?
Decrease the rate of unnecessary demand growth
Increase supply by minimizing environmental troubles
Avoid losses
What are the drivers of the land gap?
The size of the land gap depends on how quickly crop and livestock yields can be improved
If there are no gains in crop and pasture yields and no moderation in demand for food? → Agricultural land would expand by 3.3 billion hectares (the world’s forests and savannas will disappear)
Crop and pasture yields must increase at rates even faster than those achieved between 1961 and 2010
A menu for a sustainable food future: How do we reduce growth in demand for food and other agricultural products?
1) Reduce food loss,
Approximately ⅓ by weight and ¼ by calories of all the food produced in the world each year is lost or wasted at various stages between the farm and the fork Globally, food loss and waste results in nearly $1 trillion in economic losses, and generates roughly ¼ of all agricultural GHG emissions. Reducing food loss and waste by 25% globally would reduce The food calorie gap by 12 percent The land us gap by 27 percent The GHG mitigation gap by 15 percent.
2) Shift to healthier and more sustainable diets.
Animal-based food consumption is expected to rise 68% by 2050, with an 88% increase in consumption of ruminant meat. For every food calorie generated, animal-based foods, and ruminant meats in particular– require many times more feed and land inputs, and emit far more greenhouse gases, than plant-based foods.
This can be solves with, product innovation (meat substitutes), promotion and marketing (educational campaigns), Policy Pricing (meat tax),
A menu for a sustainable food future: How do we increase food production without expanding agricultural land?
1) Increase livestock and pasture productivity.
2) Improve crop breeding to boost yields
3) Improve soil and water management
4) Plant existing cropland more frequently
5) Adapt to climate change
A menu for a sustainable food future: How do we protect and restore natural ecosystems and limit agricultural land-shifting?
1) Link productivity gains with the protection of natural ecosystems
2) limit inevitable cropland expansion to environmental lands
3) Reforest abandoned, unproductive, and liberated agricultural lands
4) Conserve and restore peatlands.
A menu for a sustainable food future: How do we increase fish supply?
1) improve wild fisheries management
2) Improve productivity and environmental performance of aquaculture
A menu for a sustainable food future: How do we reduce GHG emissions from agricultural production?
1) Reduce enteric fermentation through new technologies
2) Reduce emissions of manure
3) Reduce emissions from fertilizers
etc etc
What are the key aspect of a menu for a sustainable food future?
Productivity gains are critical
Slowing demand growth is critical too
Innovation in farm management will also be necessary to mitigate emissions
Productivity gains must be linked protection of carbon-rich ecosystems
Reforestation of some lands, and restoration of peatlands, should proceed immediately
