Wildlife, wild food, food security and human society

摘要

From early history, wildlife has played a crucial role in the emergence of Earth's most successful mammal species, Homo sapiens. Exploitation of wild food, through hunting, was the main evolutionary driver of upright, running human beings and vital tothe species' nutritional health, early expansion and growth. In contrast, the recently growing human population has been sustained through the domestication of species for food and industrialisation of agricultural systems without taking natural capitalinto account. This paper critically evaluates this strategy and presents evidence that modern systems are not necessarily optimal and are, in fact, undermining long-term food security and the health of the planet and of people. There are disturbing tren