The World's Challenge: Feeding 9 Billion People

ISBN-13: 9789401785686 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 226 str.

Marion Guillou;Gerard Matheron

Opis

If a global population of 9 billion by 2050 is to be fed adequately, more food must be produced and this in keeping with increasingly stringent standards of quality and with respect for the environment. Not to mention the land that must be set aside for the production of energy resources, industrial goods, carbon storage and the protection of biodiversity.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Setting the stage
Science enters the equation
A closer look at the issue
Why nine billion?
Food for all: two different scenarios
Agrimonde: the results
Lessons learned from the Agrimonde study: change is in order
2. Eat well, eat better
Changes at the root of nutritional imbalances
Getting to the root of profound changes
Over nutrition and health
Taking action: a how to
3. Reducing losses and waste at consumption, distribution and processing levels
The scope of the issue
Losses at different stages and technical solutions currently implemented
Change is in the order
4. Reducing post-harvest losses in developing nations
Harvest-related losses: a reality in developed nations as well
Why post-harvest losses in developing countries matter
The challenge of quantifying post-harvest losses
Despite difficulties in quantifying losses, one thing is clear: post-harvest losses are significant
Post-harvest losses and when they occur
Next steps
Annex
5. Producing other goods
What is biomass?
High expectations for energy
New possibilities for green chemistry
Meeting these new needs by choosing the right biomass
How these prospects change the hunger equation
The world’s challenge. Feeding 9 billion people
6. Managing ecosystem services
Agriculture and ecosystem services
Biodiversity’s key role in ecological regulating services
Using and managing ecosystem services
7. Will there be enough land?
Agricultural land: a look at the current situation
The impact of climate change on agricultural production potential
Non-food uses for biomass: an excessive need for land?
Economic, policy and social factors affecting land use conversion
8. The need to strive for productive yet ecological agriculture
Optimised productivity of arable land
Environmental degradation
Increased, improved production: a realistic goal?
Intensive, capital-poor agriculture: the case of South-East Asia
Agricultural systems with productivity reserves
Is sub-Saharan agriculture in need of new development?
Thinking and acting globally
9. Feeding the world starts with fighting poverty
Mapping hunger
The usual suspect: blaming malnutrition on a lack of available food
The link between food and poverty: common assumptions and misconceptions
Charting a course of action
10. Towards a global governance of food
Re-examining the food riots
We must step back from agriculture in order to understand it
Diets: a factor of future need
Reinvesting in agriculture: an urgent necessity
Fighting poverty
Regulation: rules as a safety net
The need for global governance of food security as a “public good”
Dedicated agronomic research
Conclusion
Preventing catastrophe
References
Glossary

O autorze

Marion Guillou has been the President of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) since 2004. A graduate of the École Polytechnique, she is an agricultural engineer and holds a doctorate in Food and Nutrition Sciences. Gérard Matheron has been the President of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) since 2010. He is an agronomist and holds a doctorate in Quantitative Genetics.

Blurb

Is the world headed toward a major food crisis? After several decades of seeming indifference, public opinion is slowly awakening to the fact that a daunting task lies ahead.
If a global population of 9 billion by 2050 is to be fed adequately, more food must be produced, and this in keeping with increasingly stringent standards of quality and with respect for the environment. Not to mention the land that must be set aside for the production of energy resources, industrial goods,  carbon storage and the protection of biodiversity.
To meet this challenge, societies must innovate, keep losses and waste in check, and reverse the current trend of excessive and imbalanced calorie intake. At the same time, the world must put an end to hunger and with it, the suffering of some one billion people.
Researchers the world over have dedicated their life’s work to finding viable solutions to these key issues on a global scale. In this work, the heads of two leading French agricultural research organisations, INRA  and CIRAD, shed light on the issue in terms that are clear and accessible to the public at large. The reader will find a wealth of information, thought provoking insight and some surprising solutions. The world can avert a crisis, provided it makes a firm commitment to profound change, notably in the consumption and production habits of today’s western societies.

Marion Guillou has been the President of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) since 2004. A graduate of the École Polytechnique, she is an agricultural engineer and holds a doctorate in Food and Nutrition Sciences.
Gérard Matheron has been the President of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) since 2010. He is an agronomist and holds a doctorate in Quantitative Genetics.