Uncertainty on figures hampering food security efforts
Mark Kinver
BBC News, 4 October 2013
More than 600 scientists gathered in the Netherlands for a global food security conference, described as the first of its kind.
Organisers said science could help end uncertainty surrounding efforts to meet the food needs of future generations.
They added that, until now, there were many policy debates on food security but there was no scientific forum for researchers to share knowledge.
The next food security conference will be held in the US in 2015.
“A really key message from the conference for us is that we have got lots of estimates about needs of population growth etc, but at the moment we are so uncertain of the exact numbers – the uncertainty is really very high,” said conference co-chairman Ken Giller, professor of plant production systems at Wageningen University.
“We talk about the current population being seven billion, moving to 9.2 billion in 2050 and the estimate is that we need to increase production 70% or more.
“But there are many different ways of addressing that. If we don't know what the problem is then we can't get started in addressing them.”
Appetite for change
Prof Giller said there was “unprecedented interest” among the scientific community when details of the conference was first announced.
“We did anticipate about 250-300 people , but we actually ended up with more than 900 abstracts being submitted,” he told BBC News.
“The conference was basically sold out – we had 600 people and that was all we could accommodate.”
He explained that the conference was designed to create a forum where representatives from the different branches of science could come together and discuss and debate the issues of global food security.
Phi Beta Iota: These folks mean well, but they lack a holistic analytic model that includes true cost economics and some harsh truth-telling with respect to goverments legalizing financial and food terrorism, using sovereign funds to buy land from corrupt governments that are all too willing to sell their national birthrights, and finally, in complete avoidance of the alternatives, including the mix of solar power, sea water desalination, and hydroponics that is being pioneered in Australia. The bottom line is that there is plenty of energy, plenty of land, and plenty of food. What we lack is intelligence with integrity across governments, allegedly operating in the public interest.
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