Global FoodSecurity

Sustainable Futures Challenge27 April 2015Dr Will SimonsonCoordinator, GFSI

Global FoodSecurity

a Strategic Research Initiative of the University of CambridgeNeil Palmer (CIAT)

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Global FoodSecurity

Present challenges:• One in eight people are chronically under-nourished•We are eating into the planet’s natural capital

Future challenges:• Population set to expand to > 9 billion by 2050• Economic development raises living standards but also

resource consumption• Climate change effects on agricultural production are

uncertain

Why Global Food Security?

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Global FoodSecurity

Why Global Food Security?

Godfray et al., 2010, Science

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Global FoodSecurity The challenges

• Balancing future demand and supply sustainably• Addressing the threat of future volatility

in the food system• Ending hunger• Meeting the challenges of a low

emissions world• Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem

services while feeding the world

The Government Office for Science, 2011, Foresight: The Future of Food and Farming

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Global FoodSecurity Food system ACTIVITIES

ProducingProcessing & Packaging

Distributing and retailingConsuming

SOCIOECONOMIC DRIVERSChanges in: Demographics, Economics, Socio-political context, Cultural context, Science & Technology

Environmental feedbackse.g. water quality, GHGs

Food system

Socioeconomic feedbackse.g. livelihoods, consumer advocacy

DRIVERS’interactions

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE DRIVERSChanges in: Land cover & soils, Atmosphere, Climate, Water availability, Nutrient cycling, Biodiversity, Sea currents & salinity, Sea level

Food system OUTCOMESContributing to: Food Security,

Environmental Security, andOther societal interests

Food Utilisation

Food Availability

Food Access

Social welfare

Environ. capital

Based on Ericksen 2008, Global Environmental Change

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Global FoodSecurity Research themes

• Plant biology: understanding plant development, hybrid vigour and photosynthesis to breed high-yielding crops in changing climates• Infectious diseases: control of plant disease, influenza-

resistant strains of poultry, food-borne zoonoses• Political economy of hunger and food supply: drawing

lessons from historical analyses of famine, role of political structures in the food system, archaeological evidence for innovation

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Global FoodSecurity Research themes

• Supply chains: innovation in food supply, evaluating how food crises are driven by environmental, demographic, economic or political factors

• Food and health: metabolism, improving nutrition, reducing diet-related disease

• Food landscapes: biodiversity, land-sparing, water and ecosystems services, soil management

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Global FoodSecurity Research themes

• Modelling: consequences of competing demands on land and sea for food, biodiversity, water, energy, climate stability

• Global governance: BRIC countries, international politics, rising powers

• Land resources and regulatory influences: economics of land use change, impact of demographic & climate change on future policy drivers

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Global FoodSecurity

• Increasing the quantity and quality of food security relevant research• Influencing the future research agenda• Communicating about food security,

including education and outreach• Supporting activities of students and early

career researchers

Key objectives & activities

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Global FoodSecurity

The fifth seminar of the Food Futures in the World series 2015

Can GM crops help to feed the world? Wednesday 6 May 2015

Professor Sir Brian HeapResearch Associate, Centre for Development Studies, University of Cambridge, former Master of St. Edmund’s College, and Project Leader, Biosciences for Farming in Africa 1.00 pm in the Biffen Lecture Theatre, Department of Genetics, Downing Site

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Global FoodSecurity

Global Food Security to 2050

A seminar of the Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA) supported by the Global Food Security Initiative, CambPlants and The Humanitarian Centre

14th May 2015, 2-6pm

Dr Bojana Bazjelj (Cambridge University Engineering Dept)

Prof Amir Kassam (University of Reading & FAO)

Dr Gottlieb Basch (University of Evora, Portugal)

Hughes Hall, Pavilion Room, Wollaston Road, Cambridge CB1 2EW

Global FoodSecurity

For more information

www.globalfood.cam.ac.uk

Global FoodSecurity

a Strategic Research Initiative of the University of Cambridge