Feeding the world: Food for thought
From IssuesBriefs
This is based on our research for the June 2008 On Line Opinion feature.
Our analysis of the issues is outlined below with links to a separate page on each. Each issue page contains brief arguments, lists of contributors, and links to resources to help those interested in the issues.
Contents |
Theme:
The world is now consuming more food than it produces. Is this irreversible or can man's ingenuity continue to feed us all? These pages take stock of the current situation and look at the future taking account of the way that food, energy, science, geopolitical security, resources, environment and population growth are all interrelated.
What's new?
International Food Policy Research Unit releases Global Hunger Index 2008
The IPFRU Global Hunger Index 2008 is available from here [1].
The Index measures global hunger by ranking countries on three leading indicators and combining them into one index. The three indicators are prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient. Because data used in the Index come from 2006 and earlier years (the most recent available data vary for different indicators), the rankings do not reflect the current crisis of rising food prices, but they do highlight which countries could be most vulnerable to the crisis. Most of the countries ranked in the Index are net importers of grains, and are therefore more likely to suffer because of rising food prices.
“The world has made only slow progress in reducing hunger in past decades, with dramatic differences among countries and regions,” said Joachim von Braun, IFPRI director general. “Population and income growth, high energy prices, biofuels, science and technology, climate change, globalization, and urbanization are introducing drastic changes to food consumption, production, and markets. The current financial crisis complicates the picture: it actually brings some short-term relief for hungry people, as it contributes to reduced commodity prices, but the credit crunch makes access to capital difficult, including for agriculture, and that adds another obstacle for overcoming the food crisis.” [2]
Documents and Resources
- Paper by Julian Cribb [3] (1.8 Mb)
- International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) Report 15 April 2008 [4]
Supply:
There are a number of factors which can influence the supply of food. The major ones are:
- Technology (Productivity)
- Sustainability (Environment versus agriculture)
- Resource Scarcity (Actual arable land available, competition from other uses like dwellings, biofuels)
- Wild harvest
- Preservation of genetic diversity (Gene banks etc)
- Vulnerability to climate change
- Political (dysfunctional governance)
- Economic (Subsidies etc.)
Demand
- Cultural (preferred cuisine)
- Population
Contributors
Articles
Gordon Ramsay's worst recipes by Louise Staley - 27/06/2008 [5]
Water: forgotten in the food crisis by Colin Chartres - 27/06/2008 [6]
Ignoring the food crisis by Julian Cribb - 25/06/2008 [7]
Feeding the world: GM is not the answer by Bob Phelps - 24/06/2008 [8]
How much will we pay? by Fay Helwig - 24/06/2008 [9]
Tulip prices and food crisis by Cary Fowler - 20/06/2008 [10]
Feeding the world by Max Rheese - 20/06/2008 [11]
The rice crisis: what needs to be done? by Robert Zeigler - 19/06/2008 [12]
Struggles for 'food security' by Tim Anderson - 19/06/2008 [13]
Many shades of green - food production by Rowan Reid - 19/06/2008 [14]
The fight to feed Africa by Robert Paarlberg - 18/06/2008 [15]
Will the global food price crisis cause us to rethink food systems? by Polly Ericksen - 18/06/2008 [16]
Food rethink by Karin Geiselhart - 18/06/2008 [17]
An economist's questions on food ... by Bill Richmond - 17/06/2008 [18]
An action plan for the current world food situation by Joachim von Braun - 16/06/2008 [19]
A crisis in food policy rather than food capacity by Mick Keogh - 16/06/2008 [20]
Kangaroo: designed for our times by John Kelly - 13/06/2008 [21]
GE or not GE? by Julian Cribb - 12/06/2008 [22]
A traveller's view of food production in China by Fay Helwig - 12/06/2008 [23]
Agriculture - how much food for a thought? by David Kemp - 11/06/2008 [24]
Supplying sustainability by Paula Matthewson - 10/06/2008 [25]
Food failure by Leanne McRae - 6/06/2008 [26]
Taking stock of agriculture by Jan van Aken - 5/06/2008 [27]
The threat of global food shortages - part two by Mira Kamdar - 4/06/2008 [28]
The threat of global food shortages - part one by Peter Timmer - 3/06/2008 [29]
Speculating to death by Richard Hil and Nick Rose - 2/06/2008 [30]
Solving the food crisis: the causes and the solutions by Eric Holt-Giménez and Loren Peabody - 2/06/2008 [31]
