2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

21st Century Global Food Security and the Environment: Improving or Deteriorating?

This session will include multidisciplinary discussion on global food security (GFS) and sustainable Earth in the following areas: current and future climate impacts; agricultural losses from weather extremes; ensuring food for 9 billion people; limiting climate and land degradation constraints; avoiding water, land, and energy competition; building resilience and adaptation strategies for a changing world; innovative observational systems, including satellites, for monitoring and prediction of environmental impacts on GFS; and possible adaptation strategies. This brainstorming session will discuss whether GFS is improving or deteriorating and the ways to strengthen food security and avoid regional food riots; how much a warmer climate has already reduced agricultural output and expectations for the future; how to avoid climate-related crop losses in the main growing regions; 2–3 month advanced drought prediction from space; if 4- to 6-month predicted food shortages help to avoid hunger and malnutrition; and how to prevent deterioration of Earth resources. These discussions will be relevant to decision-makers, international policymakers, relief organizations, private sector, academia, and users dealing with growing population, climate, food supply/demands, weather extremes, agricultural technology, policies, and observational systems.