Category Archives: Food Security
Science has an important role to play to tackle food insecurity in a changing climate
The input of research scientists will be essential in addressing the issue of food insecurity in the face of a rapidly changing climate. This is the message from a new article produced by members of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture … Continue reading
Allowing Humanity to Flourish in a Crowded World
The Royal Society yesterday published ‘People and the Planet‘, a report which marks the end of nearly two years of work by a group including both the British Ecological Society’s current President, Professor Georgina Mace FRS and a past-President of … Continue reading
The Death of British Farmland?
Yesterday’s meeting of the Cross Party House of Common’s Agroecology Group discussed the potential for soil management practices to influence the future of farming in the UK. The session was chaired by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer and co- hosted … Continue reading
Food security, biodiversity and ecosystem services are threatened by human induced spreading of fungal infections
A recently published review paper in Nature draws attention to the dangers of globalisation and international trade which facilitate spreading of fungal diseases. The authors collected data from all over the world and showed that fungal infections had increased, caused … Continue reading
UK Government Thinktank suggests lack of agricultural research is a major cause of food scarcity
Factors including drought, soil erosion, salinity and climate change all contribute to food scarcity, but a report by the UK government’s Foresight thinktank (The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability) suggests another important cause may … Continue reading
Biodiversity: what can we afford to destroy?
That was the question posed by an evening lecture at the Zoological Society of London on Tuesday, held as part of the ‘Communicating Science’ series. A panel of four speakers, including Prof. Charles Godfray, current President of the BES, considered … Continue reading
Climate smart farming at the Royal Society
The 2008 Climate Change Act commits the UK to 80% statutory greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) reduction by 2050. The agricultural industry is responsible for approximately 25%, 50%, and 80% of global anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and … Continue reading
Increasing demands threaten future food security
Today scientists warned that rising pressures on global resources threaten the future security of the planets food, after the results of the most comprehensive investigation into food security ever were published this morning. Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington emphasised … Continue reading
Talking About GM
Can GM technology cure the world’s growing pains? On Thursday, 21 January, the BES attended an evening meeting at the British Library at which members of the public, academics, industry representatives and food producers gathered together to discuss this question, … Continue reading
New Technologies Needed to Feed a Growing Population
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, made clear the Government’s view that using the latest advances in science, such as GM and nanotechnology, is vital to make sure that the world … Continue reading