By improving the way food is produced and consumed, the food gap can be closed and a more productive and healthy environment created.
This is according to a new interim report released during the 3rd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security and Climate Change in South Africa.
It is estimated that the world will need 70 percent more food to sustain a global population of 9.6 billion people in 2050. Closing the gap between the food we will need and the food available today needs to be done in a way that “creates opportunities for the rural poor, limits clearing of forests, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture,” says Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute
Yield increases alone will not close the gap, says the report, but instead it offers a ‘menu’ of options, including:
- Improving soil and water management through practices such as agroforestry and water harvesting
- Applying principles of climate-smart agriculture to sustainably increase food security, enhance resilience and reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint
- Restoring and making use of degraded lands
- Improving the efficiency of farming (i.e. taking a ‘leave no farmer’ behind approach)
- Improving the productivity of pastureland
- Shifting diets, in particular reducing demand for animal products
- Reducing food loss and waste
- Achieving replacement level fertility through educating girls, reducing child mortality, and providing access to reproductive health services
The World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future is being produced by the World Resources Institute (WRI), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. The final version of the report will be released in mid-2014.
Read the full story on Press Release Point: New Report Offers Menu of Solutions to Close the Global Food Gap
Download the publication: Creating a Sustainable Food Future: Interim Findings
