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The Conjunction of Threats to Regional Food Production: How Serious Are Environment, Economy, Population and Climate?

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Book cover Climate Change and World Food Security

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 37))

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Abstract

Environmental degradation, economic growth, the population ‘explosion’ and climate change have been put forward as major ongoing or potential threats to developing region or global food security (Brown and Kane, 1994; Doos, 1994; Fischer et al, 1994). Much of the evidence for such views comes from the extrapolation of local or sub-regional measurements and analyses, and commonly involves the application of computer models that, although numerically complex, tend to be functionally simplistic in terms of their ability to represent natural processes and economic systems. Can we, therefore, be any more confident in these prognoses than those made 200 or 20 years ago? They have proved to be too pessimistic, because of their absolute or relative neglect of key factors like technology and external trade in food (Malthus, 1798; Carson, 1962; Meadows et al, 1972; IFPRI, 1987; U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, 1982)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H0AP, UK

    David Norse

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  1. David Norse
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  1. Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford, 1a Mansfield Road, OX1 3TB, Oxford, UK

    Thomas E. Downing

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Norse, D. (1996). The Conjunction of Threats to Regional Food Production: How Serious Are Environment, Economy, Population and Climate?. In: Downing, T.E. (eds) Climate Change and World Food Security. NATO ASI Series, vol 37. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61086-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61086-8_9

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64687-4

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