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UN and World Resources Institute Seek Common Goal in Boosting Food Production

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2013 (IPS) - Strong efforts to close a 70 per cent gap between current food availability and estimated requirements for 2050 are under way. The World Resources Institute (WRI)  – along with UN agencies and the World Bank – has produced a report showing that the global populations will more than likely grow, from the present seven billion to 9.6 billion people by 2050.

According to a new WRI analysis, the quick-growing population is due to increasing wealth. Of the 9.6 billion, at least three billion are likely to enter the global middle class by 2030 – which means the likelihood for demand of more resource-intensive foods such as meat and vegetable oils. Those already on a lower income scale will either become poorer or stay on the same scale that they are now on, while roughly 900 million of the world’s poor will remain undernourished.

Between now and the next 37 years, the WRI says a few strategies have to be implemented in order to achieve success in this goal. These include:

a)      Reducing food loss and waste — A significant share of food grown is not eaten. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 32 percent of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted.

b)      Taking better steps to maintain healthy water and ecosystems, — More than one billion currently live in water-scarce regions, and perhaps 3.5 billion could experience water scarcity by 2025. Also, increasing pollution degrades freshwater and coastal aquatic ecosystems, and.

c)      Ensuring that agriculture supports inclusive economic and social development — the agricultural sector alone gives rise to far greater growth than that of other economic sectors as it offers more than two billion people around the world sustainable employment – 28 percent of the global population – thereby effectively reducing poverty.

“We are at the intersection of food security, development and the environment. We must close the food gap,” said WRI President Andrew Steer. “But we must do so in a way that creates opportunities for the rural poor, limits clearing of forests, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture,” Steer added.

The WRI says each of these goals have to be concurrent with each other for the plan to bring about fruitful results. With the collaboration of many agricultural organizations, local farmers, plus applying the principles of climate smart agriculture across landscapes (crops, livestock, forests and fisheries) this process, otherwise called the “great balancing act,” will increase sustainability, heighten food security, enhance resilience and reduce the carbon trail that agriculture leaves behind.

There is also hope  the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will be a part of these efforts.  “Pursuing this approach is not a luxury, it’s an imperative,” said Juergen Voegele, World Bank Director for Agriculture and Environmental Services.

 
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