Meeting in Barcelona this week to flesh out details of the looming Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, negotiators and participants must also taken into account the scientific reports showing unmistakable changes and concerns over water conservation measures, and consequent relocation of sizeable populations.
With the predicted rise of the global population from the current size of 6.7 billion inhabitants to an estimated nine billion people by 2050, nations and policymakers alike have no choice but to confront the inevitable questions over population density and resource allocation.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, deep aquifers have allowed for complete self-sufficiency in terms of national grain production for a number of years. However, the same aquifers are now being drained, say Saudi authorities. By 2016, the country is expected to halt grain farming and become entirely dependent on grain imports in order to sustain its burgeoning population of 30 million, according to Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.
Underdeveloped countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam seem to be especially susceptible to threats to the food supply brought on by climate change. The article quotes Lester Brown as saying that there are climate models that predict sea levels to rise one meter by the end of the century, flooding half the rice fields in both countries and wiping out food supplies to millions.
The article also points out how despite the fact that although Great Britain is currently seventy percent self-sufficient in food production and consumption, the country is also analyzing measures to feed a population expected to increase from 61 million to 70 million over the next two decades.
Some analysts say that two ways to alleviate these problems would be through population control measures and a “’rethink [of] the entire food system’ in the same way the world’s economic and energy systems are being debated as a result of climate change.”
Posted by Patricia Lee.
