Population and the environment. Flashcards
Negative impacts of increased resource consumption on the environment:
-Climate change and resulting increases in extremes of temperature, floods, drought, and sea-level rise.
-Pollution of water and land as well as atmospheric pollution on a regional scale, such as acid rain.
-Ozone depletion
-Depletion of finite resources
-Damage to wildlife and their habitats leading to increased extinction rates and consequent threats to species interdependence.
How climate effects food production:
Rainfall, temperature, wind velocity and levels of solar insolation, all determine levels of food productivity.
Many crops need specific temperatures to thrive. High concentrations of population are determined by adequate rainfall and temperatures that are suitable for the growth of crops and rearing of livestock, with sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis.
How climate effects the level/ nature of diseases:
Tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and Ebola will directly affect death rates and life expectancy in the human population.
How climate effects fertility rates in tropical areas:
High infant/child mortality rates in tropical and subtropical areas can also influence fertility rates as families seek to compensate for their loss.
Fertility in soil:
The most important feature of soil is fertility. This depends upon soil structure, texture, acidity, organic matter and nutrients.
How soils effect agricultural output:
Fertility aspects determine agricultural outputs/ the type of farming system used. Fertility can be maintained with artificial chemical fertilisers in areas of high population but this isn’t the most sustainable- water pollution, eutrophication and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Areas with fertile soils are associated with high population density.
What soils may negatively effect the population?
Rich volcanic or alluvial soils are prone to hazards.
Main uses of water supply:
Human hydration, maintaining food production, hygiene and sanitation.
How does water supply effect population in Egypt?
95% of its population of 80 million live within 12 miles of the River Nile.
Population density meaning:
The average number of people living in a specified area is usually expressed as the number of people per km squared.
What is the Neolithic Agrarian Revolution?
This marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilisation.
When was the Neolithic Agrarian Revolution?
10,000 BC
What is the industrial revolution?
The Industrial Revolution transformed economies that had been based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechanised manufacturing, and the factory system.
When was the industrial revolution?
18th and 19th centuries.
How did the industrial and Neolithic Agrarian Revolutions affect population development?
These sparked technological developments that enabled specific areas (and Earth) to support a larger human population. Negative impact on the environment.
Agriculture meaning:
The science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, and other products.
Climate meaning-
A region’s long-term weather patterns.
Food security meaning-
Food security exists when all people at all time have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy, active life.
Salinisation meaning-
The build-up of salts in the soil, eventually to toxic levels for plants.
Topography meaning:
The relief and drainage of an area.
Zonal soil meaning:
A soil which has experienced the maximum effect of climate and natural vegetation upon the parent rock, assuming there are no extremes of weathering, relief or drainage.
In the 1960s what was the global food supply per person in calories?
2,300 per day- very unevenly distributed.
HICs- 3,030 per day
LICs- below 2,000.
Probably more than half of the people in these LICs suffered from undernutrition.
By 2010 what was the global food supply per person in calories?
The world could provide enough food to provide every person with more than 2,800 calories per day.
Availability was so uneven that 800 million people still suffered from undernutrition.
What led to the gain in food production?
-The package of technologies referred to as the green revolution, including increased use of new, high-yielding crop varieties and technologies.
-An increased reliance on global trade. During the 1970s alone, net imports of cereals by low-income countries more than tripled- from 20 million to 67 million tonnes.
Food security depends on:
Food availability.
Food access.
Food use.
Food stability.
How much more food does the Global Agriculture and Food security programme (GAFSP) believe we will need by 2050 to feed everyone?
At least 50 % more.
What was the GAFSP established for?
Medium-long term efforts to improve agricultural productivity, increase incomes and ensure food and nutrition security in low- income countries.
How many people do the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say are malnourished and why?
800 million people in developing countries due to storage losses after harvest, overconsumption and waste.
What did the FAO report was the Sub-Sahara African food loss in 2011?
Exceeding 30% of the total crop production, this represents more than $4 billion in value every year. These annual food losses far exceed the international food aid given to Sub-S Africa.
What government project in Rwanda is trying to increase food production?
Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting, and Hillside Irrigation Project (LWH)
What does the LWH in Rwanda aim to do?
Increase productivity and commercialisation of small farmers.
What achievements did the LWH make after 30 months?
Reached more than 92,000 people and yields of maize, beans and potatoes in treated areas were 30 %, 167% and 219% above national averages.
What three things did LWH do for nutrition and gender?
-Improved access to nutritional vegetable.
-Training communities in construction/management if kitchen gardens.
-Partnering with local institutions to create innovative financial products for smallholder famers, particularly women.
Why have the LWH organised farmers organised into 87 self-help groups?
Training in compost making, pest management and liming as well as co-operative management, book keeping, marketing and entrepreneurship.
Measuring the success of the LWH:
-2015 maize yield rose from 0.8 tons per hectare to 3.6 tons per hectare.
-70% of the land treated was marginals and now is productive land.
-75 famers have been able to build new houses.
In 2013/14 the World Food Programme (WFP) carried out research trials where?
Uganda and Burkino Faso
What did the WRP trial in Uganda and Burkino Faso aim to do ?
-3 Points.
-Reduce post harvest food losses by 70%.
-Increase ability of low participating farmers
-Increase smallholder farmers link to markets looking for high quality produce.
What does reducing post-harvest losses lead to?
Increased household food security, nutrition and income.
What does increasing smallholder farmers link to markets looking for high quality produce increase?
The overall marketable grain quantities, individual financial returns and improving the food security of participating communities.
What leads to the loss of harvested crops?
By the time the crops are harvested, assembled, dried, threshed, stored, transported and marketed, inefficient management allows unnecessary exposure ti contamination by micro-organisms, chemicals, temperature extremes, mechanical damage, ect.
What makes serious health risks in biological deterioration of crops?
Damage caused to the external pods of legumes or husks/kernels of grains during pre and post harvest stages contribute to contamination and mould growth.
What is the most serious food-related health risk? What is it caused by?
Food poisoning, caused by aflatoxin contamination.
What are aflatoxins produced by?
A fungus that is particularly prominent in maize.
Besides fungus, what other ways can aflatoxins develop?
Produce in contact with soil during harvesting, threshing and drying, or after grain has been placed in storage, due to pest infestation and poor storage conditions which lead to a faster growth in fungi.
Where has aflatoxins become a real problem?
Africa, especially east Africa where it had become an epidemic.
Solutions: Pre-harvest instructions-
Instructions on land preparation and the correct timing of planting and harvesting as well as guidance on controlling moisture content and avoiding direct crop contact with exposed soil reduces susceptibility to aflatoxins.
Solutions: Drying crops-
Farmers learning the importance of properly drying crops to decrease the chance of fungal growth and ways to create low humidity storage.
Solutions: Stockpiling-
Advised against the traditional stockpiling of crops on the floor, in baskets/ sacks on the floor of their house.
Solutions: Harvest timing-
Harvest is carried at the optimum time:
-Avoid losses, too early crops are moist, too late they are attacked by birds and insects.
-Understand the impact of weather at the time of harvest- rain can cause mould.
Solutions: Training in drying-
-Minimising damage by reducing moisture below the level for mould to grow in storage.
-Not allowing crops direct contact with soil.
-Limiting aflatoxin contamination.
Solutions: Training in threshing-
Precautions to avoid damage to grains during threshing/shelling.
Solutions: Solarisation-
Kills all insect life prior to being put in storage by placing grain in a solar oven.
Solutions: Improving storage-
New storage technologies to protect crops from insects, rodents, weather, etc by building up carbon dioxide levels in the container eventually reaching a level of toxicity where insects and mould cant survive.
Solutions: On-farm support-
Support workers are present to make sure that storage instructions were carried out correctly.
