Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:08am EDT
By Stian Reklev
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - The world must increase its food production (click here) by 60 percent by mid-century or risk serious food shortages that could bring social unrest and civil wars, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
Demand for food will rise rapidly over the next few decades as the world population surpasses 9 billion and increasingly wealthy people improve their diets, consuming more calories, said Hiroyuki Konuma, the assistant director-general of FAO Asia-Pacific, as the body launched a one-week regional food security conference in Ulan Bator.
But as the need for more food increases, the world is spending less and less money on agricultural research, causing many scientists to doubt whether food production can keep up with demand growth.
"If we fail to meet our goal and a food shortage occurs, there will be a high risk of social and political unrest, civil wars and terrorism, and world security as a whole might be affected," said Konuma.
The challenge is especially demanding in developing nations, which need to boost crops by a staggering 77 percent, he said....
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To effectively respond (click here) to the effects of climate change, water
management systems will need to take account of the social, economic,
and ecological complexities of the region. This means it will be
important to expand research and monitoring programs to gather more
detailed, consistent, and accurate data on demographics, water supply,
demand, and scarcity. Here, researchers stand on the Chhota Shigri
Glacier in the Indian Himalaya. Image source: Mark W. Williams,
University of Colorado, Boulder.
The pondering is how much more land will be used for urban areas? The populations need to concentrate on where the productive farm land lies and where is best to continue to expand populations. This region has large populations of over 2 billion people, 1 billion each of India and China. The leaders need to plan for the food and water pressures which are interlinked.
The people need to realize the future for their children are in the balance and see population controls, but, not to the extreme. The populations have to control their numbers and the challenge is different for India and China. Sudden contractions by either country is not a good idea, but, slowing the growth is important. The food producing nations have to realize the importance of their crop lands and how those commodities can balance their trade imbalances.
Assaults on longevity cannot be sacrificed for fear of the lack of food. The answer has to come from sufficient supply and playing out without causing changes in cultural values and the belief in life.
Figure 2.6. As shown in their population pyramids, (click here) China and India have different population patterns.
China's population is likely to level off and achieve ZPG in the near
future, while India's is likely to grow for decades to come. Both have
experienced economic development, but China's One Child Policy has moved
that country into stage 3 of the demographic transition sooner. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
By Stian Reklev
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - The world must increase its food production (click here) by 60 percent by mid-century or risk serious food shortages that could bring social unrest and civil wars, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
Demand for food will rise rapidly over the next few decades as the world population surpasses 9 billion and increasingly wealthy people improve their diets, consuming more calories, said Hiroyuki Konuma, the assistant director-general of FAO Asia-Pacific, as the body launched a one-week regional food security conference in Ulan Bator.
But as the need for more food increases, the world is spending less and less money on agricultural research, causing many scientists to doubt whether food production can keep up with demand growth.
"If we fail to meet our goal and a food shortage occurs, there will be a high risk of social and political unrest, civil wars and terrorism, and world security as a whole might be affected," said Konuma.
The challenge is especially demanding in developing nations, which need to boost crops by a staggering 77 percent, he said....
The pondering is how much more land will be used for urban areas? The populations need to concentrate on where the productive farm land lies and where is best to continue to expand populations. This region has large populations of over 2 billion people, 1 billion each of India and China. The leaders need to plan for the food and water pressures which are interlinked.The people need to realize the future for their children are in the balance and see population controls, but, not to the extreme. The populations have to control their numbers and the challenge is different for India and China. Sudden contractions by either country is not a good idea, but, slowing the growth is important. The food producing nations have to realize the importance of their crop lands and how those commodities can balance their trade imbalances.
Assaults on longevity cannot be sacrificed for fear of the lack of food. The answer has to come from sufficient supply and playing out without causing changes in cultural values and the belief in life.
Figure 2.6. As shown in their population pyramids, (click here) China and India have different population patterns.
China's population is likely to level off and achieve ZPG in the near
future, while India's is likely to grow for decades to come. Both have
experienced economic development, but China's One Child Policy has moved
that country into stage 3 of the demographic transition sooner. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
