Nourishing the PlanetWorldwatch Institute Project on Hunger and Poverty Alleviation

Danielle NierenbergSenior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute

dnierenberg@worldwatch.org http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/

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Nourishing the Planet Part II: Our Challenge in the

21st Century?

Finding ways to nourish both people and the planet with environmentally sustainable methods

of food production

Source: Bernard Pollack

Challenge of Reducing HungerDemographic, economic, and natural forces all conspire to make the challenge of reducing hunger more difficult, including:– Soaring petroleum and food prices– Population growth and urbanization– Climate change– Gender inequity– Changing diets– Unfair trade practices– Subsidies

Challenges: Population Growth

Challenges: Population Growth

• 79 million more people each year

• By 2050, population will exceed 9 billion

Source: World Bank

Challenges: Urbanization

• More people now living in cities than in rural areas

• Urban consumers pay more for their food than people in rural areas

• Urban and peri-urban agriculture are growing, but can also create food safety problems

Source: Bernard Pollack

Challenges: Gender Inequity

• Women comprise up to 80 percent of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

• Many lack access to land tenure, credit, extension services• Studies show that gender inequity can negatively affect

natural resources, including by causing deforestation

Source: World Bank

Challenge: Changing Diets

Challenge: Changing Diets

• Growing middle-class populations are able to include more animal products in their diets

• Livestock are responsible for 18% of GHG emissions

• Spread of zoonotic diseases and foodborne illness

Source: EcoAgriculture Partners,Sajal Sthapit

Challenges: Biofuels

Challenges: Biofuels

• The increased biofuel demand between 2000 and 2007 is estimated to have accounted for 30 percent of the increase in weighted average grain prices (IFPRI 2008)

• Worldwide, the amount of coarse grains converted to energy jumped 15 percent to 255 million tons in 2007

Source: World Bank

Challenges: Climate Change

• The impacts of rising temperatures and more-extreme weather events will likely hurt the poor, especially rural farmers, the most

• According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), agricultural yields in Africa could decline by more than 30 percent by 2050

Source: World Bank

Opportunities and Growing Interest in Agriculture

• The same high food prices that handicap food-aid organizations and threaten hundreds of millions of people with hunger are also pushing governments to commit to long-term, agricultural investment

• They are also responsible for establishing food security as a global priority

The Single Best Way to Alleviate Poverty

• A recent United Nations analysis of Asia and the Pacific found that 218 million people could be lifted out of poverty by raising agricultural productivity

• Growth originating from agriculture is known to be twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating from outside of agriculture (World Bank, WDR 2008)

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