How can we feed 9 Billion People sustainably? This question is certainly one of the most important humanity has to deal with. So it was with great curiosity that I attended the Royal Society lecture at Queens which concentrated on this very problem. At the beginning of his talk, guest speaker Prof Charles Godfray from Oxford University pointed out that as early as the 18th century the British scholar Thomas Malthus had predicted that populations in the long term would run out of food. Malthus was convinced that the growth of populations outstrips the capacity of the earth to supply food.
Starting from this centuries-old concern, Prof Charles Godfray summed up the recent state of the food system. On the positive side, through the last decades food production has increased together with the population. In addition, food prices are still relatively low, despite the food price peak in 2008.
On the negative side, around a billion people around the world are still suffering from hunger, a number which has been quite stable during the last number of years. Moreover, our food system is completely unsustainable. Food production is causing severe damage to the environment all over the planet. It is not only the reason for deforestation, soil degradation and the over-exploitation of our oceans, it is also responsible for around 20% of the total greenhouse gas emissions and severe water shortages in some regions. In spite of all these problems, food production has still a very low political profile; attributed to the fact that there is plenty of food available in the rich, influential countries.
There are a number of factors influencing food security in the future, according to Prof Godfray. An important part is obviously played by the development of the human population. Scientists predict the number of people living on earth will reach a plateau of about 9 billion around 2050. However, Prof Godfrey stressed that predicting the development of the population after 2100 is very difficult and highly uncertain.
Another important factor is the development of global consumption which is strongly linked to wealth, culture and urbanisation. Furthermore, the availability of water and the production and the price of energy are influencing food production in the same way as the process of globalisation and the development of consumer values and ethics. Last but not least, climate change will have a strong impact on the production of food in the future e.g. through raised sea levels, higher temperatures and an increasing number of extreme events.
At the end of his talk Prof Godfray underlined the necessity that our food system must become sustainable. To assure food security for future generations and to protect our planet we have to stop using more resources than the earth can produce. Godfray is of the opinion, that in order to achieve this, we need a mixed approach and can’t simply rely on one solution, referring to the organic/GM food debate.
Last week we had a group of young people from the Boys Brigade continuing the woodland management we have been doing over the last two years at Hazelwood.
From our foraging in the forest at Clandeboye we have found what looks like the lichen, Evernia.
Cutting trees down is probably not the first thing that comes to your mind, when you think of conservation.
With 2010 being the International Year for Biodiversity, obviously not forgetting that every year is just as important, W5 at the Odyssey was the venue for the ‘Migratory Bird’ showcase – an innovative conservation project using diverse digital formats to explore Northern Ireland’s role as a hub for migratory bird species.