Global trends in agriculture the environment and food

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This presentation won't make you feel good when you read it, but it should motivate. The 4th slide shows "The Great Acceleration." Since the mid-19th Century every trend line flies upward, both positive and negative. One should read the words of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith who lived and taught at that time and see what He said about the needs of the future. Slides 5-8 relate to consumerism. One slide shows a bird bringing more material goods to its overloaded nest but doesn't notice the branch is cracking. Slides 9-14 show water issues, and the red in the Middle East is said by many to be related to the Arab spring. Slides 15-34 should be read by all who will be alive in 2050 and think that life will stay the same. Slide 58 talks about the dark force creating our world.

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Global trends in Agriculture, the Environment and Food

William Day

Fellow, Cambridge Programme forSustainability Leadership

Slide 2

‘Prediction is very difficult,

especially about the future.’

Niels Bohr, Danish physicist (1885 - 1962)

(Sources: Rolling Stone Magazine, US Department of Energy)

The great acceleration

New Scientist 2008 from Steffen et al 2004

Northern Hemisphere average surface temperature

Population

Motor vehiclesSpecies extinctions

1750 1850 1950

GDP Foreign investment

Slide 5

THE BIOSPHERE

HUMAN SOCIETY

THE ECONOMY

Slide 8

Scarce resources

Slide 11

Worsening per capita water

availability

Slide 13 University of California

How much?

Half a kilo of lettuce 105 litres

Half a kilo of tomatoes 105 litres

Half a kilo of potatoes 110 litres

Half a kilo of wheat 150 litres

Half a kilo of carrots 150 litres

Half a kilo of apples 223 litres

Half a kilo of chicken 3,700 litres

Half a kilo of pork 7,410 litres

Half a kilo of grain fed beef at least 13,640 litres

Slide 14

Regional virtual water balances and net interregional

virtual water flows related to the trade in agricultural products. Period: 1997-2001.

Water Footprint Network

To meet the increasing demand

from a growing population we will

need to produce more food in the

next 40 years than has been

produced in the previous 8,000

years.

Jason Clay, Senior Vice President WWF

Long-term trends in average per

capita cereal production

Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2009; United Nations Population Division, 2007

Philippe Rekacewicz, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

Species resistant to pesticides

Numbers of species resistant to pesticides

FAO

Global Fertilizer Consumption Over

Time

Source: International Fertilizer Industry Association; U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base

The global growth of fertilizer use and cereal production,

1960-2010.

Source: UNEP 2011

Slide 23

Percent Increase in Nitrogen Flows in Rivers

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Slide 24

Harvest peak

Pre-peak

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and Sea Around Us project

Fisheries peaking

Food security

in

Asia

soils.usda.gov/.../food-security-asia.html

Source: Horne and McDermott 2001

Expected growth in biofuel demand

The price of food is highly dependent on the price of oil.

Source: FAO 2011; and Mundi Index 2011

Slide 32

Nu

mb

e

r 7,0

0

0,0

0

0,0

0

0?

N

o

7,100,000,000?

Slide 38

Slide 39

Slide 40 Stern Review

Slide 43

Slide 46

Slide 47

20 million

people

3 million

people 9 million

people

The impact of a one metre sea-level rise – displaced people in Asia

Altitude above

current sea level

72 million

people

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy

"It's no secret anymore that for every nine

barrels of oil we consume, we are only

discovering one."

November 11th, 2009

Slide 50

Fossil fuel reserves-to-production (R/P) ratios at end 2011

http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.docategoryId=9041234&contentId=7075077

Oil c. 50 years

Gas c. 60 years

Coal c.110 years

The big debate

53

Eurobarometer survey

Making the connections

Population

Sanitation

Disease Density

Urbanisation Poverty

InequalityNutrition

Uncertainty

&

Insecurity

water

energy

climate

food

WEF GLOBAL RISKS

LANDSCAPE 2013

Severe Income

Disparity

Rising GHG

Emissions

Water Supply CrisisFiscal imbalances

Mismanagement of

population ageing

Extreme Volatility food/agric prices

Food shortage crisis

Slide 58

TRUT

Trust in institutions to operate in society’s best interest

Global trends in Agriculture, the Environment and Food

William Day

Fellow, Cambridge Programme forSustainability Leadership

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