Warm-Up 9/14/11

• What are three things you would be willing to give up to achieve a more sustainable life style?

Essential QuestionHow does the global population affect the amount of arable land available?

How many Bears in the Forest Activity

Discussion Questions 1. How many bears could this habitat support?

Why were they able to survive?2. What percentage of the bears survived? 3. What percentage of the bears would have

survived if the food had been evenly divided?4. What limiting factors, cultural and natural,

would be likely to actually influence the survival of individual bears and populations of bears in an area?

Impacts of Human Populations on Accessibility of

food and Agriculture

• Food is essential for the survival of human beings

• Hunger results from neglect of the universal right to food.

The Value of Food

• Ethical practices in every society necessitate us to provide for those who are unable to feed themselves to receive food directly.

• Failure to do so is deemed injustice and unethical

Human population growth and demographic shifts

• Many developed countries have recorded increases in the proportion of elderly people due to improvements in life expectancy, combined with population growth in developing and under-developed countries.

• The global population is increasing to unprecedented levels, posing challenges to food production and distribution.

Projected population growth into 2050

• More people but less food production

• Developing countries have younger population structures.

• Rural-to-urban migration, leading to a world that will soon have more urban than rural inhabitants.

• Resulting in considerable shrinkages in the rural labour force that mainly works the agriculture sector

• Arable land is that capable of being used for crop growing and, thus, has qualities including a fresh water supply and a richness in nutrients, and is located where the prevailing climate is suitable (not too hot or too cold).

Arable Land

Arable LandPercent Arable by Country

Pressure on natural resources

Exploitation of forests• In the search for more farmland, huge areas are being

deforested, leading to soil erosion and massive flooding. • Poorer nation overwhelmed with desperation; whereas

producers and consumer in wealthy nations are disincentives for conservation practices.

Plant, animal genetic resources, land, air, water, forests and wetlands are rapidly degrading as a result of pressure from population growth and increase market pressure.

Exploitation of water source• Increases in the demand for water for agricultural,

industrial and domestic uses are lowering groundwater levels, even permanently depleting aquifers.

• Overuse of water also leads to salinization and eventual abandonment of what was once prime agricultural land.

Through the invention of ever-more effective means of catching fish ie : use of huge vessels with canneries on board compete with fishers using simple nets or lines.

Exploitation of marine resource

• Landownership is concentrated in the hand of the rich and powerful

• Traditionally agricultural research was the domain of the state. It is now driven by private sector.

As a result, research on crops and livestock that does not profit the private sector will be abandoned.

New Biotechnologies

• Biotechnologies could help to increase the supply, diversity and quality of food products, reduce costs of production and processing and reduce pesticide use and environmental degradation.

• New era of biotechnology - Genetic Engineering.

• For millennia, the food and agriculture system has made use of biotechnologies in the form of fermented foods such as bread, cheese and beer.

Genetic Engineering• ability to select, manipulate and

transfer genetic traits from one species to another.

• Eg : cloned organisms, such as Dolly

• Genetic engineering to date has focus on agenda that is profitable to private sector – eg : herbicide tolerance and insect resistance

• Further lead to concentration of economic power.

An extreme scenario could be the use of the new biotechnologies for bioterrorism.

These products may pose new risks to the environment and human health. Eg : transfer of herbicide tolerance to weeds, leading to more aggressive or more competitive weeds; the transfer of food allergenic compounds to products that did not previously contain them

Food Distribution

• 800 million people worldwide are unable to receive food due to non-accessibility and distribution flaws

• Food can be better distributed through efficient farm-to-market channel

Other important factors :a) direct access road to landb) secured price structures that

provide incentives to produce for the market

Exit Ticket• You are a citizen of a town that is

rapidly growing. The city council is considering expanding the urban center of the town into the surrounding farmland.

• Write a letter to the editor of the local paper explaining the consequences of doing so.