strategy
Exploiting global biological resources for new foods
Synonyms:
Exploiting the environment for food Context:
The human race exploits about 7,000 species for food, but 1.4 million species have been identified, and as many as 40 million may exist in nature.Only about 150 food plants are used extensively, and 5,000 food plants have ever been used by humans. Indeed, only three species of plants, corn, rice and wheat, supply over half off all human energy needs. However, there is wide agreement that the world's food demands cannot solely rely on these three, though essential plants, particularly as availability of suitable land for their production is declining, research and other methods into increasing their yields are achieving less incremental gains per unit of research and inputs, and population growth continues at an unrelenting pace. There may be tens of thousands of additional kinds of plants that could provide humans food if their properties were fully explored and brought into cultivation, ideally without the dramatic change to the natural environment associated with the cultivation of corn, rice and wheat. Many alternative foods could be found in the tropics, corresponding to a region where many countries have rapidly growing populations.
Narrower:
Identifying food security benefits of biological diversityIncreasing marine living resources for food Constrained by:
Limiting food variety Facilitates:
Securing food suppliesSecuring food suppliesDemonstrating new food typesDeveloping new marine productsAccumulating global food stocksGiving attention to neglected food resourcesReducing seasonal variability in food suppliesImproving food production in developing countries Facilitated by:
Globalizing food sourcingConserving global biodiversityExpanding research on plant genetic resourcesEnsuring sustainable use of biological resourcesEnsuring sustainable use of biological resourcesReducing protectionism in the food production industriesConducting tropical forest and biological diversity studies Problems:
Crop vulnerabilityDeclining breeds of cultivated plants
Famine
Inadequate farm crop diversity
Insufficient farm experiments
Limited food variety
Monopolization of agricultural genetic resources
Neglected food resources
Overdependence on few crop species
Protectionism in agriculture and the food production industries
Unadapted crop varieties
Variability in crop yields
Values:
Nonglobalized Subjects:
Resources → Resources Biosciences → Biology
Amenities → Food
Economics → Resource utilization
Environment → Environment
International Relations → Planetary initiatives
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
