Increasing demand for food - The Nile Region Flashcards
What are the environmental impacts of increased demand for food?
Transporting food - higher food miles - increases our carbon footprint.
Importing short -shelf life food via aeroplanes has the largest impact.
Demand for food outside of growing seasons massively increases the problem of emissions.
FARMING ON MARGINAL LAND means that no goodness will returned to the soil, so over time that land becomes USELESS. When nothing grows anymore, the soil will simply blow away.
What are the political impacts of increasing demand for food?
Water is essential. But when one country upstream tries control it’s flow, or use, it has implications for those downstream. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Nile region. Demand for HEP means damming the river; in turn the natural floods that added valuable nutrients to the soil no longer occur because flow is regulated. This can increase the amount of marginal land and POLITICAL tensions.
Are there any social impacts of increasing demand for food?
Yes - the need for water for farming as well as personal use means it can be hard to secure a clean water supply. Growing cash crops can have economic benefits for a family but also lead to tension and eutrophication which affects other people as well as the wildlife.
Are there any economic benefits of increasing demand for food?
Growing cash crops, rather than subsistence farming, allows investment in farms and higher profits for owners. However, this comes at a price as more intensive farming = more fertiliser, and trying to get this can cause people to fall into a poverty trap.
