3 research outputs found
Chapter 5: Food Security
The current food system (production, transport, processing, packaging, storage, retail, consumption, loss and waste) feeds the great majority of world population and supports the livelihoods of over 1 billion people. Since 1961, food supply per capita has increased more than 30%, accompanied by greater use of nitrogen fertilisers (increase of about 800%) and water resources for irrigation (increase of more than 100%). However, an estimated 821 million people are currently undernourished, 151 million children under five are stunted, 613 million women and girls aged 15 to 49 suffer from iron deficiency, and 2 billion adults are overweight or obese. The food system is under pressure from non-climate stressors (e.g., population and income growth, demand for animal-sourced products), and from climate change. These climate and non-climate stresses are impacting the four pillars of food security (availability, access, utilisation, and stability)
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Toward a holistic and data-driven framework to evaluate livestock-derived protein systems
The environmental toll of protein production systems, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land use associated with the production of livestock-derived foods, poses a substantial challenge for global agricultural sustainability. At the same time, livestock possess significant cultural and economic value for billions, while providing essential macro- and micronutrients. Such tensions fuel a debate on how to optimize livestock production systems, with implications for global nutrition, the environment, and society. Here, we introduce the Protein for Nutrition, Environment, and Society (ProNES) framework to address challenges related to the holistic evaluation of livestock-derived protein systems. ProNES uses publicly available data to comprehensively assess livestock-derived commodities in terms of their nutritional, social, economic, and environmental aspects. The exercise underscores areas where data gaps must be filled for more precise assessments, such as the contributions of livestock production systems to livelihoods across a range of geographic, economic, and sociocultural contexts
Climate change responses benefit from a global food system approach
A food system framework breaks down entrenched sectoral categories and existing adaptation and mitigation silos, presenting novel ways of assessing and enabling integrated climate change solutions from production to consumption.Peer reviewe