Amongst all the current – and long overdue – discussion of global food security, a new mantra is increasingly heard: food production must double by 2050 if a projected world population of 9 billion is to be fed. But the world is already producing more than double the food we actually consume: we don’t need another Green Revolution, just to eliminate profligate waste.
The G8′s first ever agriculture summit took place over the weekend of 18th to 20th April 2009, in response to the “world food emergency”.
With alarming volatility in world food prices and growing concern over the sustainability of our food system, food security is firmly on the international agenda after decades of complacency.
The Tracing Paper followed the build-up, progress and conclusion of the first ever G8 agriculture summit and examined some of the underlying issues of food security and sustainability.
Global recognition of the desperate need for measures to ensure global food security in coming decades is reflected in the G8 holding its first ever agriculture summit. After decades of complacency, in which food security was widely seen as an issue only for poor countries, even the world’s leading economic nations are waking up to the need for action if the whole world is to enjoy a sustainable supply of food.
The UK government is at last waking from its long complacent slumbers and asking serious questions about food security. After enjoying an abundant supply of ever cheaper food for the last five decades, the developed world is beginning to realise that we can’t take the essentials of life for granted indefinitely.
Food Matters, the new Cabinet Office report on food policy
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