Food security, sustainability and agriculture

KGA171 The Global Geography of ChangePresented by Associate Professor Elaine StratfordSemester 1

YouTube Introduction

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARDPart 1

Revising Lecture 5.11. What is the ecological footprint?

2. With reference to language explain why declining cultural diversity is an environmental problem.

3. Define sustainability. How does it differ from sustainable development?

4. Why are these terms contested? Is that contestation necessarily negative?

5. What are Jacobs’ four faultlines of contestation over sustainable development and how do they gain expression in conservative and radical forms?

6. How was sustainable development fully defined in Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment and Development/Brundtland Commission? Why does this definition – more than the popular one – matter?

7. List and briefly explain the six principles of sustainability.

8. What is Agenda 21?

A Woman Thinking

Learning Objectives

Module 5 Lecture 2 be able to

• explain the meaning, possible causes and spatial expressions of hunger and over-consumption of food

• describe and elucidate the main features of the third agricultural revolution

• comprehend the ways in which food security and modern agricultural practices are key considerations for sustainable development

KGA171 demonstrate knowledge of geographical

concepts, earth and social systems and spatial patterns of change

create and interpret basic maps, graphs and field data

identify and analyse different viewpoints to contribute to debates about global development

communicate in reflective and academic writing, referencing literature when needed

Textbook Reading

Bergman and Renwick (2008) pp.312-51

Food and Agriculture Organization (2006)The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006, FAO, Rome.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Success stories.

Critical reading1. What is the author’s purpose?2. What key questions or problems does the author raise?3. What information, data and evidence does the author

present?4. What key concepts does the author use to organize this

information, this evidence?5. What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are those

conclusions justified? 6. What are the author’s primary assumptions?7. What viewpoints is the author writing from?8. What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?[from Foundation for Critical Thinking]

Old Woman Reading a Lectionary, Gerard Dou

FOOD SECURITY: AN IMPERATIVE OF SUSTAINABILITY

Part 2

Agenda 21

3. Combating poverty

4. Changing consumption patterns

14. Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development

32. Strengthening the role of farmers

What’s at issue?

Chronic hunger Acute hungerStarvationObesityFood (in)securityUnsustainable development

Geopolitics of deprivationPovertyEnvironmental degradationDepletion of natural resourcesPopulation growthLoss of ownership or access to landMarginal agricultural landCash croppingSocial conflictCorruptionAgri-food markets

Hunger is not new

Progress Toward Millennium Goal 1 Eradicate extreme

poverty and hunger

Bergman and Renwick (2008) p.339.

Undernourishment

Agricultural Labour Force

Bergman and Renwick (2008, p.494)

Human development

Food crises

FAO (2008)The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, FAO, Rome, p.18.

FAO (2006) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006, FAO, Rome, p.5.

Target 420m

An unequal world

2005-2007 food prices rising, hunger increasingnumber of undernourished people in 2007 923 million – up 75 million from 2005

FAO (2008)The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, FAO, Rome, p.6.

Geopolitics of excess?Peak waterPeak oilPrice settingWorld tradeConsumerismSocial conflict

Excess is not new

OECD obesity levels

Unprecedented production: grain

WorldWatch Institute (2007) Vital Signs 2007-08: The trends that are shaping our future, WW Norton, New York, p.21.

WorldWatch Institute (2007) Vital Signs 2007-08: The trends that are shaping our future, WW Norton, New York, p.21.

Unprecedented production: meat

Unprecedented production: fish

WorldWatch Institute (2007) Vital Signs 2007-08: The trends that are shaping our future, WW Norton, New York, p.21.

OF REVOLUTIONS AND BUSINESSPart 3

Spatial independence Spatial interdependence

The geography of human history: from local to global

Hunter-gatherers Tribes Chiefdoms Empires World-system

Local Regional Global mini-systems world-empires world-system

1st 10,000-5,000 BP 2nd 1600-1900 3rd 1900 to presentThreeagricultural revolutions

Global spatial integration of agriculture has concentrated control of the world’s food in the core

See also Svalbard Seed Bank

The Third Agricultural RevolutionRobots packing bread onto palettes

The Green Revolution

Bergman and Renwick (2008) p.327.

Food in the modern world system:inequality and agriculture

Food supply chain:

Five components andmediating forces

At the heart of the matter