Food for a Healthy Planet

Food For a Healthy Planet

University wide interdisciplinary breadth subject

taught by four faculties and available to all students
in all courses.
Main contacts;
Food Prof. Mohan B Singh
Systems Phone 83445051
mohan@unimelb.edu.au

Dr. Nanette Esparon

Vet &
Ag-Sciences Phone 83444579
nesparon@unimelb.edu.au
Medicine
Geography
(MDHS)
 Why study food?
Food is a basic human need and critical to
health

Also intimately tied to society and culture.

Food is a basic human need and critical to health
Changing Alsonowintimately
more rapidly than any
tied to society time in
and culture.
historyChanging now more rapidly than any time in history
Driven by water, climate change, energy, reducing CO2, etc.
Food and its production raises many questions for 21st century
Driven by water, climate change,living. energy,
reducing CO2, etc.

Food and its production raises many questions

for 21st century living.
 Food For a Healthy Planet

Climate
Genetic
Change/
Modification Animal Cloning
Water
Environment

Food Quality
History/Culture

Exercise/Sports Health

Food
Food Obesity
Rituals

Fast food Economics

Population Sustainable
Production
Future
Hunger/
Food
Famine
Allergy Security
Globalisation
Topic One Food and Environment

Topic Two Food for Health

Topic Three Food Security

Topic Four Food Issues

Topic One Food and Environment
consists of four lectures. Issues
covered include the global need for
food and the consequences and
effects of food production of global
warming and climate change.
 Prof. Snow Barlow

Climate change and

Climate change and
Food pProf.
Food production
SnowrPPoduction
Climate change
and Food
production

Faculty of Veterinary and

Agricultural Sciences
Topic Two Food for Health. This topic
deals with nutrition, and the various
illnesses that can be caused by too much
food or by too little food. Sports and the
role of nutrition will be covered in
depth.
 Dr Anneline Padayachee

Food for Health,

Preventative Nutrition,

Functional foods,

Processed Food

Faculty of Veterinary and

Agricultural Sciences
 Prof Mark Hargreaves

Food for Health,

Food and Sport

Physiology
Faculty of Medicine Dentistry
and Health Sciences
Topic Three Food Security
consists of five lectures. This topic
covers a broad range of issues,
such as the history of famine, the
global distribution of food, and an
introduction to food production,
marketing and trade.
 Growth drivers

Food, feed and fuel consumption have led to a trend

increase in demand for agriculture commodities
Billion metric tons

Source: USDA and Goldman Sachs Commodities Research estimates

 Prof Bill Malcolm
Food Security

Food Marketing

Economic Issues

Faculty of Veterinary and

Agricultural Sciences
 Dr Adam Bumpus

Food security, climate

change, Hunger,
Famine

Dr Adam Bumpus
Resource Management and
Geography
 Topic Four Food Issues consists of four lectures. The
story of coffee and chocolates gives an interesting insight
into the marketing and processing of some foods in
different parts of the world. Students will also have the
opportunity to learn about biotechnology, food allergies
and the issues surrounding genetically modified foods.
 Food For a Healthy Planet

Examples of Food Supply Chains-

Chocolate and Coffee
Historical,social, economic, cultural and ethical
aspects
Health and marketing issues
 Food For a Healthy Planet

Genetically Modified Foods

Are they safe?

Does the world need GM foods?

What are the pressing issues?

Health of the Planet-the Big Picture

Uncharted Territory
Uncharted Territory: How Many People

1950: 2.5 Billion People

1970: 3.7 Billion People

1990: 5.3 Billion People

2010: 6.9 Billion People

2030: 8.2 Billion People

2050: 9.2 Billion People

World Population Growth
 Population growth
Most population growth will occur in developing countries

The picture in 2000

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/eart-01.html
Haber/Bosch Industrial Nitrogen Fixa9on
N2 + 3H2 2NH3
German chemist Fitz Haber developed process of nitrogen (N2) conversion to ammonia (NH3)
in 1909.
Carl Bosch from BASF developed scale up to industrial levels by 1913
Received Nobel prizes in 1918 and 1931.
Process requires high pressure and temperature
Ammonia is an eec9ve nitrogen fer9lizer that is biological accessible to plants
During World War I, shiTed conversion of NH3 to nitrates for explosives manufacturing.
Without this process World War I would have ended quickly since the worlds source of
nitrates came from Chilean saltpeter
Saltpeter are thick deposits of guano deposits = bird/bat droppings. Rich in nitrates and
phosphates Fritz Haber, 1918
Chilean saltpeter was under Bri9sh control.

Carl Bosch

mining guano Peruvian booby nest

 8000 B.C.: 5 Million People

1 A.D: 300 Million People

1800 : 1 Billion People

1930: 2 Billion People

1959 : 3 Billion People

Haber-Bosch 1974 : 4 Billion People

Process
invented
1987 : 5 Billion People

1999 : 6 Billion People

2011: 7 Billion People

World population ( no Haber
Bosch nitrogen)
World Population 1800-2100-es
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World-
Population-1800-2100-es.png) By Loren Cobb
(User:Aetheling) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via
Wikimedia Commons
Paul Ehrlich
1968: The Population
Bomb

The battle to feed all of

humanity is over.
In the 1970s the world will
undergo famines
Hundreds of millions of
people are going to starve
to death
 The Green Revolution
Norman Borlaug (1914-present) Nobel Peace Prize 1970
The Father of the Green Revolution. Developed drought
and disease resistant strains of wheat in Mexico between
1944-1960s. In use throughout Latin America, Africa,
Middle East and Asia. Estimated to have saved 1.3 billion
+ people from starvation.
http://reason.com/0004/fe.rb.billions.shtml, http://
www.ideachannel.com/Borlaug.htm

Rice

Norman Borlaug

normal improved super

 Food production is the main cause of
environmental change and degradation
Producing Food by Green-Revolution
Techniques
First Step: develop high-yield crops
like corn, rice and wheat

Second Step: Use large inputs of

fertilizers, pesticides and water.

Third Step: Increase number of crops

grown per year on a plot of land
(more crop less land)
These techniques produce huge
increases in crops BUT need lots of
water, fossil fuels, machinery,
pesticides, fertilizers
* Uses 10% of worlds oil *
 How Food Is Produced
Technology Changes:
Farm machinery
Fishing equipment
Fertilizers
Pesticides
Irrigation
GE Foods
Feedlots
Fish farms
Each improvement brings new
challenges
Can the growing population feed itself?
Growing more food with less water?
Converting forests into farms
in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
1975

2003
TitleDeforestation: Rondonia, Brazil

Body text
1975
1986
2000

10 km
 Climate Change and Food Security
What is the potential impact of global warming on food supply?
The State of Our Atmosphere
310

N2O
(ppb)

250

360
CO2
(ppm)

260

1750
CH4
(ppb)
750
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Year Data from IPCC
The State of Our Global Temperature
The 10 warmest years have all occurred
since 1990 1994
 Uncharted Territory: Temperature
Temperature is at the highest level in the last 11,000 years
Within 1 oC of the max of the past million years

Western Pacific Sea Surface temperatures

Dr. Cameron Wake, University of NH, ASPO-USA
Boston 2006
Average Global Temperature and Atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide Concentrations, 1880-2008
Uncharted Territory: Sea Levels
The last time temp. was 2-3 oC higher
the ocean level was 25-35 m higher.

At current rates, temperature

will increase 2-3 oC by 2100

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Adapting/adapting_2.html
 Ice Melting

Losing our Reservoirs in the Sky

Mountain glaciers rapidly disappearing
worldwide
Himalayan and Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau
glaciers sustain the major rivers of Asia
during the dry season, providing critical
irrigation water for agriculture
If melting continues at current rates, rivers
like the Yellow, Yangtze, Ganges, and
Indus could become seasonal, causing
wheat and rice harvests to plummet
Photo Credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Kilimanjaro
The State of Our Physical Structure

Muir Glacier, Alaska August 1941

Photos by Bruce Molnia, USGS.
The State of Our Physical Structure

Muir Glacier, Alaska August 2004

Photos by Bruce Molnia, USGS.
Montane glacial melting with loss of the downstream
summer river flow, which is a critical resource for many countries.
(Alps, Andes, Himalayas, Africa)

Melting of Bolivias Chacaltaya Glacier 1940-2005.

 By 2050, about 4.4 billion people of the worlds
projected 10 billion people will suffer from chronic
water shortages.
Population Action International,
Washington, D.C. 1997

Water is taking over from oil as the likeliest

cause of conflict in the Middle East.
A. Darwish. Geneva Conference on
Environment and Quality of Life, June 1994

The extremes of water are going to be much more

unmanageable, both drought extremes and risk of floods.
K. Trenberth Director of Climate Analysis
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado
2 February 2007, summarizing IPCC report
 Where the Fresh water is?

Fresh water is less than 3% of global water