USE OF WATER AND LAND FOR FOOD SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

摘要

The annual hunger report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) lists hunger and malnutrition as the major cause of tremendous human suffering, killing more than 5 million children every year, and costing developing countries billions of dollars in lost productivity and national income. Whilst steady progress has been made towards food production and achieving improved food security, the stark reality is that presently, 1 in 6 people, or some 850 million people, many of whom are children, aresuffering from chronic malnutrition. With only a decade left, the world is falling short of meeting the target of halving this number by 2015 in line with the World Food Summit (Rome, 1996) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG goals). How far havewe gone towards meeting this target? Available statistics do not show a favourable report. In the decade following the World Food Summit in 1996, the number of undernourished people in developing countries has decreased by only 9 million, with population growth wiping out most of the gains achieved in the early part of the decade.