What is Food Security?
Regular safe access to clean, nutritious and affordable food
that is not supplied by aid organisations.
There is no easy solution to the problems that the
hungry face on a daily basis as the earth struggles under the pressure of feeding 7 billion mouths. Climate change
delivering unpredictable rainfall and devastating droughts. Major rice and wheat crops around the world are continuing
to fail with farmers walking off the land becoming climate refugees. Many fish species stocks are on the verge of collapes
with ocean creatures fighting over fishing, pollution and acidification that effects reproduction of their young. It
seems we have painted ourselves and almost every other creature on earth into a corner with the unlikely hood of escaping
with out numerous casualties.
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| http://www.prlog.org/10531726-how-agri-food-corporations-make-the-world-hungry.html |
As a global community it is important that we encourage change to
our farming practices where reducing expensive petroleum based inputs and minimising disturbance the topsoil that kills beneficial
bacteria and leaves valuable topsoil subjected to the elements. Clearing of natural forest trees and plants that hold
water and nutrients in the soil have destroyed soil fertility and in some cases virtually irreparably. These areas are
striped of vegetation to make way for housing and non-edible crops like bio-fuel and palm oil, where local people struggle
to maintain an existance off the land. Half of all the precious topsoil where crop growth occurs has been lost to erosion
and salinity with the remaing soil stripped of its fertility.
For those who live in the developed world the plight
of 3 billion people is another world away and easily pushed to the back of minds. For these people life is tough living
from meal to meal, going to bed hungry most nights. Women in these countries can walk for up to 4 kilometres to collect
water and bring it home to their family. Many children suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and other sickness and
disease that can be prevented. Some say that the waste from the developed world could help feed the worlds poor and
indeed it could but there is no simple way to make this available. Sadly, there is normally political and internal unrest
in these areas where food and water insecurity is prevalent.
iSustainable has chosen to work with the ZERI Foundation and start to implement some of the ground breaking technologies where waste products and new forms of energy using science
and physics are used to produce food and other essential resources. Although we are in skating on the thin ice of catastrophy
there are still life lines that can offer alternatives if more organisations embraced the change, review their practices and
focus on sustainability instead of profit a crisis can be avoided. The team at iSustainable is determined to build awareness
and momentum for change that can bring a positive outcome for all.
