Food Security, Poverty and Biodiversity
Workshop hosted by the University of Newcastle, 31st April 2014 |
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In this seminar
we debated food security and how this relates to both issues of poverty and
biodiversity.
We asked how food security can be made a reality for those in poverty whilst maintaining biodiversity, and we debated the potentials and limitations of land-sparing and land-sharing approaches. |
“Despite a significant growth in food production over the past half-century, one of the most important challenges facing society today is how to feed an expected population of some nine billion by the middle of the 21st century ” |
Moving the
food security debates forward: implications for policy and livelihoods
Theme 1:
Land-Sparing and Land-Sharing in Practice
1) How
have land-sharing initiatives increased resilience for local communities? Under
what scenarios can it be used as an effective rural development strategy
without compromising yields?
2) How have land-sparing approaches prevented the expansion of the agricultural frontier in tropical landscapes? Have land-sparing policies been successful in mitigating the expansion of agro-business in the global south? |
Theme 2:
Food Security Policies in Practice
1) How are
food security policies influencing agricultural production and agricultural change?
2) How will economic development in the global south influence sustainable supply chains and certification schemes “An emerging theme in the discourse on developing-world agriculture is that of ‘food sovereignty’; the principle that farmers should themselves be able to define their own food production systems” |
Resources
and reading
Fischer J et
al (2014) Land sparing versus land sharing: moving forwards, Conservation
Letters 1-9.
Charles H et al (2010) Food security: The challenge of feeding 9 billion people, Science, 327, 812. https://feedingninebillion.com www.foodsecurity.ac.uk |
