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18 options + winter 2016/2017 www.iiasa.ac.at
O ur food supply is under threat worldwide. To tackle
this we need a good understanding of future
climate change, as well as its interactions with our
food resources. Using systems science we need to
understand how our actions, from wars to trade
agreements, can affect food security, and how we can adapt to
a changing world.
What is secure in a changing world?
Food security does not mean simply having enough to eat now
and enough seed put aside for next year’s crop. In today’s world
we must also prepare for the global, long‑term changes to come.
Predicting the effects of climate change on our food sources
requires large‑scale data on which crops are grown where,
howÂ
vulnerable they are to climate change, and what management
practices or technologies are in place. To tailor this information to
policymakers’ needs, IIASA has helped to create a new interactive
website MapSPAM, which maps 42 of the world’s key crops
at ten‑kilometer resolution.
Soil type also has a vital part to play, recent IIASA work has shown.
“Different soils can have very difference characteristics, in terms
of levels of nutrients or water‑retention capacity, for example,”
saysÂ
IIASA researcher Christian Folberth. “Some soils act like a sponge,
for instance, providing water to plants throughout a drought.”
In fact, in regions that use only small amounts of fertilizer or
irrigation—often the poorer areas—crop yields might be even more
closely linked to the cultivated soil type than weather. This finding has
important consequences for improving food security, says Folberth.
“By using accurate soil data in our models we can provide farmers
with better advice on how to select the right crops for their soils and
how to manage their soils to prevent them from becoming degraded.” Diversity to cope with change
Just as our soils may gradually lose their ability to provide
for us, another slowly emerging threat is our influence on
the very gene pools of the organisms we rely on for food.
So‑called heritage crops, from purple carrots to ancient strains
of wheat, are suddenly popular, in part because there is a
real concern that the genetic diversity of our food is declining
toÂ
dangerous levels. If only a single strain remains disease might
decimate any crop, and indeed we have already lost an important
strain of bananas.
Planning for the future
to ensure no one
goes hungry
OUR
DAILY BREAD
zurĂĽck zum
Buch options, Band winter 2016/2017"
options
Band winter 2016/2017
- Titel
- options
- Band
- winter 2016/2017
- Ort
- Laxenburg
- Datum
- 2016
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 32
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften Options Magazine