Sustainable Food Production in Data-Limited Regions: Insights from Global Analyses

Sustainably increasing global food security is one of humanity’s grand challenges. Many food insecure areas lack data needed to identify opportunities to improve both food production and the environment. Global data sets and analyses provide insights on closing yield gaps, as well as managing the tradeoffs of food production and greenhouse gas emissions, water availability and quality, and habitat loss. They can also be used to assess the risks of climate change, water stress, and land grabs. These examples highlight ways that global data can help set regional priorities and goals to sustainably boost food production. Where available, they can be coupled with local data to provide more specific recommendations.