Material Detail

The global population is set to increase to over 10 billion by 2050 and, with economic development, the average wealth of individuals in developing nations is set to rise—this brings with it a set of challenges for agriculture and the food supply chain. To date, the increase in the supply of food to meet global demand has been one of the great success stories of applied research. However, this success has come at the expense of nature; biodiversity is declining at an accelerating pace, rivers, lakes and aquifers are polluted, soils are polluted or being eroded, forests are being converted to grow crops to supply food and energy and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture nearly equal those from transport. Things cannot continue as they are; future food security will need to focus on the sustainable supply of food, incorporating innovation in technology, supply chains and social science/economics. Nature can, and does, provide ecosystem services to agriculture and these services need to be incorporated into the management and conservation of biodiversity.

This is a direct link to the articles published under the Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Wildlife section of the journal Sustainability.

This will delete the comment from the database. This operation is not reversible. Are you sure you want to do it?

Thank you for reporting a broken "Go to Material" link in MERLOT to help us maintain a collection of valuable learning materials.

If you feel this material is inappropriate for the MERLOT Collection, please click SEND REPORT, and the MERLOT Team will investigate. Thank you!

You are being taken to the material on another site. This will open a new window.

Do not show me this again