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Transforming the global food system

Can the predicted rise in global food demand by 2050 be met sustainably? A modelling study suggests that a combination of interventions will be needed to tackle the associated environmental challenges.
  1. Günther Fischer

    1. Günther Fischer is at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria.

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The global population in 2010 was estimated to be 6.9 billion people, and by 2050 is predicted to reach between 8.5 billion and 10 billion people1. This increase would bring a corresponding rise in food demand that would affect the environmental toll that food production exerts on the planet. Writing in Nature, Springmann et al.2 report their analysis of the environmental pressures that would arise in a projected scenario for the global food system in 2050. They also modelled the effects of implementing approaches to lessen the environmental consequences of food production.

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Nature 562, 501-502 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07094-6

References

  1. Samir, K. C. & Lutz, W. Glob. Environ. Change 42, 181–192 (2017).

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  12. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Future of Food and Agriculture: Alternative Pathways to 2050 (FAO, 2018).

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