You are here

Agriculture and Food Security

Primary tabs

The mission of this Working Group is explore new directions in Agriculture and Food Security.

General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Group description: 
This Working Group is focused on Agriculture and Food Security.
Group roles and permissions: 
Use default roles and permissions
Group visibility: 
Public - accessible to all site users

Members

admin Albert Gomez Anthony Carrielaj ChrisAllen Corey Watts
efrost Elhadj Drame gsharma Hank Rappaport John.R.Falco.VMD jranck
Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald MDMcDonald_me_com philippe.neeser samanthadas
SmithShawn SmShako TacarraB TheresaBernardo

Email address for group

Plummeting Insect Numbers 'Threaten Collapse of Nature'

           

The rate of insect extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. Photograph: Verein Krefeld

Insects could vanish within a century at current rate of decline, says global review

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers

theguardian.com - by Damian Carrington - February 10, 2019

The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review.

More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Scientists Reveal 'Ideal Diet' for Peoples' and Planet's Health

           

A vendor selects fruit for sale at a market in Lima, Peru November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo/File Photo

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - The Lancet - Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems

reuters.com - by Kate Kelland - January 16, 2019

Scientists have unveiled what they say is an ideal diet for the health of the planet and its people - including a doubling of consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes, and a halving of meat and sugar intake.

If the world followed the “Planetary Health” diet, the researchers said, more than 11 million premature deaths could be prevented each year, while greenhouse gas emissions would be cut and more land, water and biodiversity would be preserved.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

ACAPS - CrisisInSight: Global Risk Analysis

In the next 6-9 months, the following countries are expected to deteriorate significantly leading to a spike in #humanitarian needs:

CLICK HERE - ACAPS - CrisisInSight: Global Risk Analysis

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Can We Grow More Food on Less Land? We’ll Have To, a New Study Finds

           

Harvesting soybeans in Mato Grosso, Brazil.  Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - World Resources Institute - Creating a Sustainable Food Future

nytimes.com - by Brad Plumer - December 5, 2018

If the world hopes to make meaningful progress on climate change, it won’t be enough for cars and factories to get cleaner. Our cows and wheat fields will have to become radically more efficient, too.

That’s the basic conclusion of a sweeping new study issued Wednesday by the World Resources Institute, an environmental group. The report warns that the world’s agricultural system will need drastic changes in the next few decades in order to feed billions more people without triggering a climate catastrophe.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

The Unseen Driver Behind the Migrant Caravan: Climate Change

           

Honduran migrants taking part in a caravan heading to the US, walk alongside the road in Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, on 24 October. Photograph: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - World Food Programme - FOOD SECURITY AND EMIGRATION - Why people flee and the impact on family members left behind in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras (24 page .PDF report)

While violence and poverty have been cited as the reasons for the exodus, experts say the big picture is that changing climate is forcing farmers off their land – and it’s likely to get worse

theguardian.com - by Oliver Milman, Emily Holden, and David Agren - October 30, 2018

Thousands of Central American migrants trudging through Mexico towards the US have regularly been described as either fleeing gang violence or extreme poverty.

But another crucial driving factor behind the migrant caravan has been harder to grasp: climate change.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Yemen on Brink of 'World's Worst Famine in 100 Years' if War Continues

           

Malnourished boys in a malnutrition treatment centre in Sana’a, Yemen. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

UN warns that famine could overwhelm country in next three months, with 13 million people at risk of starvation

theguardian.com - by Hannah Summers - October 15, 2018

Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned.

If war continues, famine could engulf the country in the next three months, with 12 to 13 million civilians at risk of starvation, according to Lise Grande, the agency’s humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Video - BBC interview with Lise Grande of the UN - Yemen could be 'worst famine in 100 years'

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Two Million Risk Hunger After Drought in Central America - U.N.

           

Maria Jesus Lopez shows a corn ear in a drought-affected farm near the town of San Marcos Lempa, El Salvador, July 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

Central America is one of the regions most vulnerable to extreme weather linked to climate change

Thomson Reuters Foundation - news.trust.org - by Anastasia Moloney - September 7, 2018

Poor harvests caused by drought in parts of Central America could leave more than two million people hungry, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, warning climate change was creating drier conditions in the region.

Lower than average rainfall in June and July has led to major crop losses for small-scale maize and bean farmers in Central America's "Dry Corridor", which runs through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

This means subsistence farmers will not have enough food to eat or sell in the coming months, and have no food supplies to see them through the lean time between harvests.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Destruction of Nature as Dangerous as Climate Change, Scientists Warn

       

A dead Bodó fish in front of stranded floating houses on the bed of Negro River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, during a drought in 2015. Photograph: Raphael Alves/AFP/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - ipbes - Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions Continue Dangerous Decline, Scientists Warn

Unsustainable exploitation of the natural world threatens food and water security of billions of people, major UN-backed biodiversity study reveals

theguardian.com - by Jonathan Watts - March 23, 2018

Human destruction of nature is rapidly eroding the world’s capacity to provide food, water and security to billions of people, according to the most comprehensive biodiversity study in more than a decade.

Such is the rate of decline that the risks posed by biodiversity loss should be considered on the same scale as those of climate change, noted the authors of the UN-backed report, which was released in Medellin, Colombia on Friday.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered.

           

Residents of San Isidro, P.R., waited for food and water in October. Credit Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by PATRICIA MAZZEI and AGUSTIN ARMENDARIZ - February 6, 2018

The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

How a Seed Bank, Almost Lost in Syria’s War, Could Help Feed a Warming Planet

Ali Shehadeh, a plant conservationist from Syria who fled the war in his country, at work in Terbol, Lebanon. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Image: Ali Shehadeh, a plant conservationist from Syria who fled the war in his country, at work in Terbol, Lebanon. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

nytimes.com - Somini Sengupta - October 13th 2017

Ali Shehadeh, a seed hunter, opened the folders with the greatest of care. Inside each was a carefully dried and pressed seed pod: a sweet clover from Egypt, a wild wheat found only in northern Syria, an ancient variety of bread wheat. He had thousands of these folders stacked neatly in a windowless office, a precious herbarium, containing seeds foraged from across the hot, arid and increasingly inhospitable region known as the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of farming.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 
Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

howdy folks
Page loaded in 0.730 seconds.