The increasing food demand is intensifying the pressure on the natural environment including biodiversity. Biodiversity and food security are related in a complex manner. Global food security is one of the biggest problems, yet global organizations are attempting to address it at the cost of biodiversity. This blog post will explore the trade-off between biodiversity and food security in land use.
Food Security in the World
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines Food Security as “the situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates, more than 828 million people suffer from hunger in 2022. The ongoing war in Ukraine has further disrupted the global food supply chain; food commodities prices have shot upwards thus pushing millions of additional people into a situation of extreme hunger.
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The Relation Between Food Security and Climate Change
Climate change and food security have a cause-and-effect relationship. On one side, climate change affects the productivity of the agricultural sector through intense heatwaves, flooding, droughts, hurricanes, changing precipitation patterns, and so on.
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In addition to being the cause of food insecurity, climate change is also the effect of food insecurity. Sounds confusing right?
Well, it’s pretty simple to understand. Let me help you.
The global food system is one of the biggest drivers of climate change as Agriculture, Forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) activities are responsible for around 13% of the total carbon dioxide emissions, 44% of Methane, and 81% of nitrous oxide.
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The net impact of AFOLU activities stood at 23% for the period 2007-2016 as per IPCC findings. I hope you have understood the cause and effect relation between climate change and food security.
The Trade-Off Between Biodiversity and Food Security in Land Use
The increasing demand for food and energy in the world leads to intensified use of agricultural land and conversion of more land to cropland, pastures, urban areas, and plantation zones.
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The other driving forces for these conversions include the demand for biomass, fiber, construction material, and land for urbanization. This unnatural conversion of land is compromising biodiversity and the ecosystem.
Impacts Of The Competing Claims for Biodiversity and Food Security in Land Use
There may be a number of effects as a result of the competing claims for land and resources between food security and biodiversity. More land is maintained if the scales tip in favor of biodiversity.
As a result, there will be a threat to global food security, which will exacerbate the hunger crisis.
While if we prioritize food security in land use, then the loss of biodiversity is inevitable.
Other consequences of this action include the extinction of species, soil degradation, water depletion, and exploitation of natural resources to name a few.
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Furthermore, deforestation will affect the livelihood of people who depend on forest food products.
Although agricultural land conversion increases the world’s food supply, it does so at the price of biodiversity.
Reducing poverty coincides with decreasing biodiversity, resulting in a “win-lose” situation. While further exploitation of natural land can result in more poverty thus making the result an even worse “lose-lose” situation.
The challenge is how to create a win-win scenario. How might the trade-off between biodiversity and food security in land usage be minimized? Let’s go over a couple of potential remedies.
How To Diminish The Trade-Off Between Biodiversity and Food Security in Land Use?
As the competing claims on the land increase, the question remains unsolved,” how to diminish the trade-off between biodiversity and food security in land use?”
The goal is to achieve a “win-win” situation in which global poverty is reduced while biodiversity is also preserved.
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Here are a couple of recommendations that we can help diminish the trade-off between biodiversity and food security in land use.
- Efficient national and international policies to fulfil food demands in a sustainable way
- Promoting sustainable land-use management approaches such as land-use zoning
- Ensure the protection of the ecosystem and biodiversity
- Aggregate measures to control deforestation
- Control demand and supply chain for different agro-commodities
- Formulation of policies that promote sustainable agricultural practices
- Making sustainable use of cutting-edge technologies to increase agricultural output
- Facilitate transition to a more sustainable production system through government intervention, access to knowledge, investment, and other ways
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Conclusion
International institutions like the UN, IMF, WFP, FAO, and others can play a critical role in encouraging sustainable practices that fulfill both the need for food globally and environmental protection.
In addition to ensuring food security, effective and sustainable land use also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, store carbon in the environment, and address the problem of declining biodiversity.
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