Scientists aim to pinpoint role of forests in battle against “hidden hunger”

[Judi Lynn]

Scientists aim to pinpoint role of forests in battle against “hidden hunger”
Source: Mon, 13 May 2013 09:06 AM
Author: Julie Mollins

The view that increased crop production is the strategy most likely to achieve global food security could in reality allow farmland to encroach on valuable ecosystems, have a disastrous impact on forests and might not solve food security and nutrition problems, scientists say.

Further research is essential for understanding the full impact forests and tree-based agricultural systems have on dietary and nutritional needs for at least 1 billion people whose livelihoods are directly affected by forests, the scientists said in a discussion paper released ahead of the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome.

“A rampant increase in agricultural production as global population increases could encroach on nutritional food sources found in forests,” warned Terry Sunderland, a scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and one of the authors of the paper.

“It’s not about production, it’s about equity, distribution, purchasing power and food waste,” he said, citing a report by Randy Stringer, a professor at the University of Adelaide who made a lasting impact when he argued in 2000 that the world produces adequate food for all.

More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20130513090602-04q5l/?source=search

[GliderGuider]

1. We are caught in a web of positive feedback loops

Warming Arctic <==> methane releases
Energy supplies <==> economic growth
Food supplies <==> population growth

Or, in general:
Consumption <==> Growth

The first one is easy to see as dangerous, because neither a warming Arctic nor uncontrolled methane releases are in anyone's best interest.

The last three are not only impossible to break, but very hard for most people even to see, because we're all embedded in the systems on the right hand side of the arrows. This problem of invisibility goes back to William Edwards Deming's famous quote: "A system cannot understand itself."

I'm not sure if there is an answer to this dilemma. I certainly haven't found one yet.