Are There Fundamental Constraints to Food Security?

Abstract

The human population is set to number about 10 billion by 2052, and to keep on increasing. Can that number of people be fed and if not—what are the constraints? Firstly, 16 % of the world’s nations already have a ‘severe food insecurity status’ or worse. So the problem is real. We identify the main issues as drought stress, in particular where this is caused by inadequate resource management, and other facets related to climate change. These manifest as inundation of coastal land with sea water and the increasing incidence of extreme weather events. Soil quality is declining due to over exploitation. Bees are dying world-wide for no single verifiable reason. Biosecurity breakdowns are already debilitating but can only get worse. Poverty means that cash resources cannot be reinvested into productivity and therefore intensifies in a downward spiral. Natural resources are continually under population pressure, meaning that ‘developed’ land is destabilized through desertification and rivers silted as a result of erosion.