The Hunger Games

Governments and their international agencies (FAO, World Bank) conceive of the eradication of hunger and poverty as a worthy wish that will eventually be realized through economic growth. They also make great cosmetic efforts to present as good-looking trend pictures as they can. Citizens ought to insist that the eradication of severe deprivations is a human rights correlative duty that permits no avoidable delay. Academics ought to collaborate toward providing a systematic alternative monitoring of what progress has really been made against undernourishment and other povertyrelated deprivations

Checklists and Technical Guidelines to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing

The purpose of this document is to aggregate the coastal, flag and port State responsibilities to combat IUU fishing contained in select international fisheries instruments within a single reference document. The responsibilities are presented as a checklist, in questionnaire format. The document aims to serve both as a reference document for professionals as well as an assessment tool for practitioners, in order to facilitate the identification of legal, policy, institutional and operational weaknesses at the national level when implementing coastal, flag and port State responsibilities to combat IUU fishing. This is the first volume in the series of “Checklists and technical guidelines to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing”

Minimising food waste: a call for multidisciplinary research

Food losses and waste has always been a significant global problem for mankind, and one which has become increasingly recognised as such by policy makers, food producers, processors, retailers, and consumers. It is however an emotive subject whereby the extent, accuracy, and resolution of available data on postharvest loss and waste is questionable such that key performance indicators on waste can be misinformed. The nature and extent of food waste differs amongst developed economies, economies in transition, and developing economies. Whilst most emphasis has been put on increasing future crop production, far less resource has been and is still channelled towards enabling both established and innovative food preservation technologies to reduce food waste while maintaining safety and quality. Reducing food loss and waste is a more tractable problem than increasing production in the short to medium term, as its solution is not directly limited, for instance, by available land and water resources. Here we argue the need for a paradigm shift of current funding strategies and research programmes which will encourage the development, implementation, and translation of collective biological, engineering, and management solutions to better preserve and utilise food. Such cross disciplinary thinking across global supply chains is an essential element in the pursuit of sustainable food and nutritional security. The implementation of allied technological and management solutions is reliant on there being sufficient skilled human capital and resource. There is currently a lack of robust postharvest research networks outside of the developed world, and insufficient global funding mechanisms which can support such interdisciplinary collaborations. There is thus a collective need for schemes which encourage inter-supply chain research, knowledge exchange and capacity building to reduce food losses and waste

When enough should be enough: Improving the use of current agricultural lands could meet production demands and spare natural habitats in Brazil

Providing food and other products to a growing human population while safeguarding natural ecosystems and the provision of their services is a significant scientific, social and political challenge. With food demand likely to double over the next four decades, anthropization is already driving climate change and is the principal force behind species extinction, among other environmental impacts. The sustainable intensification of production on current agricultural lands has been suggested as a key solution to the competition for land between agriculture and natural ecosystems. However, few investigations have shown the extent to which these lands can meet projected demands while considering biophysical constraints. Here we investigate the improved use of existing agricultural lands and present insights into avoiding future competition for land. We focus on Brazil, a country projected to experience the largest increase in agricultural production over the next four decades and the richest nation in terrestrial carbon and biodiversity. Using various models and climatic datasets, we produced the first estimate of the carrying capacity of Brazil's 115 million hectares of cultivated pasturelands. We then investigated if the improved use of cultivated pasturelands would free enough land for the expansion of meat, crops, wood and biofuel, respecting biophysical constraints (i.e., terrain, climate) and including climate change impacts. We found that the current productivity of Brazilian cultivated pasturelands is 32–34% of its potential and that increasing productivity to 49–52% of the potential would suffice to meet demands for meat, crops, wood products and biofuels until at least 2040, without further conversion of natural ecosystems. As a result up to 14.3 Gt CO2 Eq could be mitigated. The fact that the country poised to undergo the largest expansion of agricultural production over the coming decades can do so without further conversion of natural habitats provokes the question whether the same can be true in other regional contexts and, ultimately, at the global scale

Biofilm formation on enteral feeding tubes by Cronobacter sakazakii, Salmonella serovars and other Enterobacteriaceae

WHO (2007) recommended that to reduce microbial risks, powdered infant formula should be reconstituted with water at temperatures >70 °C, and that such feeds should be used within 2 h of preparation. However, this recommendation does not consider the use of enteral feeding tubes which can be in place for more than 48 h and can be loci for bacterial attachment. This study determined the extent to which 29 strains of Cronobacter sakazakii, Salmonella serovars, other Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter spp. can adhere and grow on enteral feeding tubes composed of polyvinyl chloride and polyurethane. The study also included silver-impregnated tubing which was expected to have antibacterial activity. Bacterial biofilm formation by members of the Enterobacteriaceae was ca. 105-106 cfu/cm after 24 h. Negligible biofilm was detected for Acinetobacter gensp. 13; ca. 10 cfu/cm, whereas Cr. sakazakii strain ATCC 12868 had the highest biofilm cell density of 107 cfu/cm. Biofilm formation did not correlate with capsule production, and was not inhibited on silver-impregnated tubing. Bacteria grew in the tube lumen to cell densities of 107 cfu/ml within 8 h, and 109 cfu/ml within 24 h. It is plausible that in vivo the biofilm will both inoculate subsequent routine feeds and as the biofilm ages, clumps of cells will be shed which may survive passage through the neonate's stomach. Therefore biofilm formation on enteral feeding tubes constitutes a risk factor for susceptible neonates

Indigenous African soil enrichment as a climate-smart sustainable agriculture alternative

We describe for the first time a current indigenous soil management system in West Africa, in which targeted waste deposition transforms highly weathered, nutrient-and carbon-poor tropical soils into enduringly fertile, carbon-rich black soils, hereafter “African Dark Earths” (AfDE). In comparisons between AfDE and adjacent soils (AS), AfDE store 200–300% more organic carbon and contain 2–26 times greater pyrogenic carbon (PyC). PyC persists much longer in soil as compared with other types of organic carbon, making it important for long-term carbon storage and soil fertility. In contrast with the nutrient-poor and strongly acidic (pH 4.3–5.3) AS, AfDE exhibit slightly acidic (pH 5.6–6.4) conditions ideal for plant growth, 1.4–3.6 times greater cation exchange capacity, and 1.3–2.2 and 5–270 times more plant-available nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Anthropological investigations reveal that AfDE make a disproportionately large contribution (24%) to total farm household income despite its limited spatial extent. Radiocarbon (14C) aging of PyC indicates the recent development of these soils (115–692 years before present). AfDE provide a model for improving the fertility of highly degraded soils in an environmentally and socially appropriate way, in resource-poor and food-insecure regions of the world. The method is also “climate-smart”, as these soils sequester carbon and enhance the climate-change mitigation potential of carbon-poor tropical soils

Reasoned opinion on the modification of the existing MRLs for cyflufenamid in pome fruits, cucurbits (inedible peel) and gherkins

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, France, hereafter referred to as the evaluating Member State (EMS), received an application from the company Nisso Chemical Europe GmbH to modify the existing MRLs for the active substance cyflufenamid in pome fruit (quinces, medlar, loquat), cucurbits with inedible peel (pumpkins, watermelons) and gherkins. In order to accommodate for the intended uses of cyflufenamid, France proposed to raise the existing MRLs from the limit of quantification of 0.02 mg/kg to 0.05 mg/kg in pome fruit and gherkins and 0.04 mg/kg in cucurbits with inedible peel. France drafted an evaluation report in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, which was submitted to the European Commission and forwarded to EFSA. According to EFSA the data are sufficient to derive a MRL proposal of 0.06 mg/kg for the intended use on quinces, medlar and loquat in France, 0.05 mg/kg for the intended use on pumpkins and watermelons in France and 0.08 mg/kg for the intended use on gherkins in France. Alternatively, the existing MRLs of 0.05 mg/kg on apples and pears and 0.04 mg/kg on melons, which were derived from the same residue data using the previous valid statistically-based calculation method, could be extrapolated to the whole group of pome fruit and cucurbits with inedible peel, respectively. Adequate analytical enforcement methods are available to control the residues of cyflufenamid in the commodities under consideration. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concludes that the proposed use of cyflufenamid on quinces, medlar, loquat, pumpkins, watermelons and gherkins will not result in a consumer exposure exceeding the toxicological reference values and therefore is unlikely to pose a public health concern

Does Social Policy Meet Social Needs?

Summaries This article asks whether social policy in the South meets social needs. We argue that in poor countries, social policy as conventionally designed and delivered leaves the needs of the poor inadequately addressed – and identify two key reasons why this is so. The first is that northern models of social provisioning were transplanted to poor countries with little adaptation to local realities; the second arises from the top?down and sectoral nature of social policy. The result is a mismatch between the provision of social goods and services and actual needs. We propose criteria for assessing whether social policies match needs, and discuss initial steps which might bridge the identified gap