Food4 - Geographies of Food

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G E O G R A P H I E S

Emanuele Bompan

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Riccardo Pravettoni

Authors Emanuele Bompan, Riccardo Pravettoni Cartographer Riccardo Pravettoni Design Andrea Canfora Photoediting Giada Connestari Translation Mary Trease Oversight Roberto Giovannini Publisher La Stampa With the sponsorship and support of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Directorate-General for Development Cooperation Cover image Malthus™ (2009)

by Antonio Scarponi Thanks for their participation to Andrea Bertaglio, Lester Brown, Mauro Buonocore, Giampaolo Cantini, Linda Fioriti, Eden Kincaid, Danielle Nieremberg, Lapo Pistelli, Cinzia Scaffidi, Donatella Spano, Giovanni Venegoni Special thanks to Mario Calabresi, Andrea Concer, Marco Este, Simone Landini, Jean Leonard Touadi, Cristiano Maggipinto, Lia Quartapelle ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be duplicated, reproduced, or used for other publications without express permission of the authors @ Bompan, Pravettoni 2015

Index

04 Introduction

Emanuele Bompan 06 Preface

Lapo Pistelli

Part one › Cereals

Part three › Fishing

10 Granaries at risk

Lester Brown

26 Where are all the fish?

Emanuele Bompan

12 Hunger and greed

Emanuele Bompan

28 Big fishing boat eats little fishing boat

Emanuele Bompan

14 Wall Street Food

Danielle Nieremberg,

Eden Kincaid

Part two › Livestock

30 Inside the net

Emanuele Bompan

Part four › Climate

18 Meat production and consumption, can it be sustainable?

Andrea Bertaglio

34 If the climate changes

Donatella Spano,

Mauro Buonocore

20 More meat for all?

Linda Fioriti

36 The coming water crisis

Giovanni Venegoni

22 Biodiversity on the plate

Emanuele Bompan

38 What a waste!

Emanuele Bompan 40 Biodiversity, a common good to feed the world

Cinzia Scaffidi 42 Cooperation to feed the world

Giampaolo Cantini 45 Sources

Livestock

Introduction preserve its biodiversity and confront the climate changes that we ourselves have caused? › In 1798, Robert Thomas Malthus, celebrated English economist, demographer, and author, wrote in his Essay on the principle of population and its effects on the future development of society that, «the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man». He believed that population growth would lead to cultivating less fertile lands, with food shortages sufficient for subsistence to reach the limit of economic development. › Although the truth of these Malthusian predictions remains to be seen, more than 200 years later the debate is still open on population growth, meeting the demand for food, fighting hunger, and conserving natural resources. › Our intent is to produce a universal exposition dedicated to feeding the planet – energy for life is symbolic in and of itself. Today we are faced with a world that will have a population of 9 billion people by 2050. To satisfy all, we will have to produce as much food in the next 35 years as man has produced in the last 8 thousand. Without destroying the planet, how will we

Cereals

› A new geological era is in store for the earth: the Anthropocentric. An era in which the Earth is heavily marked by human activity. Not only in the climate, where gas emissions will have transformed the atmosphere and climate balance. But also in the chemical composition of the soils, and in the biological structure of the continents. We have cleared, burned, created vast expanses of monoculture, genetically altered plants, altered the cycle of nutrients thanks to fertilizers (potassium nitrate, nitrogen), engineered chains of mass-production, fished many species to extinction, and eradicated entire classes of animal species (large mammals). › An often-unbalanced growth, even in the world of humans. A world in which part of the population suffers from hunger and malnutrition for lack of access to safe and nutritious food sources. And meanwhile, another 2.1 million people are overweight or obese and suffer from related diseases.

Climate

› Malthus and his successors – Aurelio Peccei and the Club of Rome come to mind – have always correctly held to a position of alarm on the demography – food safety connection, even if often excessively catastrophic. As Umberto Colombo, former ENEA director, recalled in 1978 in the Club of Rome’s seminal text, Beyond the Age of Waste, “we must always strive to equip ourselves with new knowledge and new technological paradigms with which to address and resolve issues in order to properly assess the scarcity of resources”. › New technologies and new practices will be available to address the huge problem of food security in a world with 9 billion inhabitants.

Without giving into the blind trust of a techno-optimist, La Stampa has documented how today holds many ways to improve our response to the challenge of food security: from preserving plant biodiversity to renewable energy in agriculture, from sustainable agro-forestry culture to control over fishing quotas, from the introducing adapted diets to urban gardens to fight the “food deserts”. We

have shown many solutions throughout La Stampa’s special report, Food4, which can be found online (view FOOD4 online). › This atlas aims to give the reader an analytical way to rapidly and effectively understand, perhaps not exhaustively but as completely as possible, the complexity of the food issues gripping us at present. These are real issues that we will face in the years ahead: grain production, impacts of climate change, impact of meat consumption, rational use of water, the relationship between food commodities and finance, overfishing, and biodiversity.

We wanted to create a digital instrument for you to read on your iPad or PC, to print and take with you to Expo 2015, to reflect on the dimensions of these issues as you try to grasp the global interconnections between these issues. The map tool has great narrative power; you will find evocative potency in the photos, and explanatory support in the text. Throughout, we continue to do our duty as journalists and researchers: to narrate the grand scenes of a world in transformation.

For you readers.

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project, geographer, and journalist Roberto Giovannini Journalist, La Stampa

Fishing

Livestock

Preface › Agriculture is still the main source of employment and income in rural areas of less developed countries, where a great majority of poverty persists. Worldwide, one out of every eight people still suffers from hunger.

At the same time, obesity and other forms of malnutrition caused by a poor diet are growing issues with a negative impact on public health. › The global food crises of 2007-2008 and 2011, with dizzying increases in the prices of basic food products, have brought the issue of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture to the center of the development agenda.

Millions of people have seen their ability to eat properly become compromised as levels of malnutrition have risen, with serious repercussions on the political and social stability of many countries. › Among the main factors behind this crisis – which it is feared could hap-

Cereals

pen again – are numerous elements.

A growing global demand for food products (particularly livestock and fishing) is not offset by an adequate increase in agricultural production.

The ever more frequent extreme climactic events, high energy prices, and, above all, inequality in the distribution and access to resources and market speculation. › Therefore, food and nutrition security must be at the center of policies to reverse the trends of mass poverty, unequal globalization, and environmental unsustainability.

Producing more food is absolutely critical to meeting the growing demand, which is also driven by urbanization and higher income, but it is only a part of the challenge. The fight for food and nutrition security and agricultural sustainability must first address the disparities that often marginalize rural popula-

Climate

tions – particularly farmers and farm workers – excluding them from the process of development. › Internationally, food security and sustainable agriculture are among the most urgent priorities to be addressed by the international community to ensure a better future for coming generations. The negotiation process for the post-2015 Agenda for the definition of new Sustainable Development Goals is confirming that food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture represent a fundamental pillar of development that intersects with economic growth, social development, and environmental sustainability. › Food and nutrition security will be central to Expo2015, which is dedicated to the theme “Nourish the Planet, Energy for Life”. This is an opportunity to reassert the Italian

role in the promotion of increased awareness of access to food as a universal right. Thanks to cooperation between institutions, the private sector, and civil society, you are invited to recognize for yourselves in the proposals of the Charter of Milan what we believe will become a manifesto for inspiration. › We need clear, immediate, and effective tools to juggle these complex issues. For this, I think the Food4 Atlas – Geographies of Food can be a very useful tool for studying the issues relating to food security, from the peak in grain production to the problems of climate change, from overfishing to the impact of livestock raising. An atlas to give an account of the state of the world, and a synopsis to get closer to the heart of the Expo to better understand the challenges that our country, and the entire world, must face in the years ahead.

Lapo Pistelli Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Fishing

E R

Š Giada Connestari

C E

1

A L S

Canada

Stati Uniti

Messico

Granaries at risk

Guatemala Venezuela Colombia Brasile

Ecuador

Peru Bolivia

How will we face a world with a population of 9 billion people? Today we see a significant phenomenon: in countries where agriculture is more advanced, farmers apply every technology and know how to increase yields, particularly of grains. Fertilizers, intelligent irrigation, plant selection, and so on. All strategies used abundantly.

Once the limits of nutrients (elements such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus that “feeds” plants) and water supply (by optimizing irrigation) have been reached, the last limit is the power of photosynthesis. And no one today knows anything about a more efficient photosynthesis. Grain production has hit the roof in many countries, and is at a limit that may not be possible to overcome.

Take Japan, which has reached unimaginable levels of rice production. 17 years ago they had reached peak production. This could have been surpassed by finding a more efficient system for photosynthesis. But, to date, no one has ever found a more efficient system that can overcome the physical limits of chlorophyll photosynthesis. Now we see the same phenomena in China with rice, and in France with wheat. In Great Britain as well. Germany also struggles to increase its wheat production. And Italy, which imports much of its wheat from Canada, is completely deadlocked. Now we are even witnessing corn production in the Usa. reach its limit. A state like Iowa produces more wheat than Canada and more soy than China. But now, it can no longer increase its productivity.

To this cap on productivity we must also add the negative effects on crops. Although climate change is one of the enemies of good grain production, mankind’s bread of life, the more im10

Paraguay

Uruguay Cile Argentina

Population growth Billion people 9

World

8 7 6

Developing Countries

5 4 3 1 0 1950

Least Developed Countries

Developed Countries

2

1970

1990

2010

2030

2050

Sources: UN Population Division, from van der Mensbrugghe et al. 2009

minent danger is the water crisis. Let’s take some of the planet’s principal production areas: the United States, China, and India. All regions where cereal production is crippled by water stress. In India there are 26 million wells pumping water without reserves to refill. In 2015 the US has seen a serious water crisis in the West. The aquifers of the Chinese plains, which supply food to hun-

Cereals

Food pillars

Svezia Gran Bretagna

Russia

Lettonia Lituania Germania Bielorussia Polonia Olanda Slovacchia Belgio Ukraine R. Ceca Ungheria Francia Moldavia Austria Romania Azerbaijan Croazia Serbia Bulgaria Spagna Danimarca

Kazakhstan

Grecia

China

Turkmenistan

Turchia

Italia

Corea del Nord

Uzbekistan

Japan Corea del Sud

Iran

Siria

Afganistan

Iraq

Marocco Algeria

Pakistan

Egitto

Nepal Taiwan

Bangladesh Laos

India

Tailandia Mali Burkina Faso Guinea Benin Nigeria Sierra Leone Ghana Camerun Costa d’Avorio

Birmania Ethiopia Uganda

Rep. Democratica del Congo Angola

Zambia

Sri Lanka

Kenya

Tanzania Malawi Madagascar Mozambico

Cereal yields Kilograms per hectare Less than 1 000 1 000 - 2 000 2 000 - 4 000 4 000 - 8 000 More than 8 000

Vietnam Filippine

Cambogia Malesia

Indonesia

Cereal production Million tonnes, 2013 356

Sudafrica

Australia

100 50 10 1

Soja Maize

Rice Wheat

Note: only countries with a production above one million ton are represented Sources: World Bank and FAO statistics

Global agricultural production Tonnes per hectare

Increase required to meet future agriculture demand

10 8 6

Rice

Maize 4

Wheat

2 0

Soja 1970

1990

2010

2030

2050

Sources: Deepak, K. R., Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050, PLoS ONE, 2013

dreds of millions of people, are emptying. The true limitation is not the soil; there are still many lands that can be productive, especially in Africa.

The element missing is water. In India, around 175 million people are fed with grain produced by excessive water pumping. By 2016, Saudi Arabia will stop farming because their water reserves are at a record low.

Climate change also should certainly not be underestimated. Stanford University analyzed the relationship between grain production and the change in average temperature. The result shows that an average increase of one degree Celsius reduces crops by 17%. Now, let’s remember that if we do not act to cut greenhouse gas emissions, average temperatures could increase in some areas up to 6 °C. Even an increase of just 2-3 degrees could put us in serious trouble, putting millions of people in a situation of food insecurity. Finally, we should consider the food chain. My estimates have shown how over three billion people are, or have already risen in the food chain. They have risen by consuming more food, more grains, or more animal protein – often in excess. Consuming more meat, they consume more grains. In the US, nearly 5-6 kilograms of grain is required to produce a pound of meet.

We face unprecedented challenges. The grain economy is a globally integrated system, just like the climate and water cycle. The world must face these challenges with intelligence and speed.

Otherwise, before long, feeding the world’s population will inevitably become impossible. ‹

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Lester Brown President of American Think Thank, Earth Policy Institute, and author of the book Plan B 4.0 (Edizioni Ambiente).

The text was adapted from an interview conducted by Emanuele Bompan

11

Guatemala Nicaragua Haiti Rep. Dominicana

Ecuador Colombia

Hunger and greed

Peru Bolivia

Paraguay

Brasile

The daily caloric requirement is defined as: the energy intake from food necessary to compensate for the energy expenditure of individuals to maintain a level of physical activity sufficient to actively participate in social and economic life, with a body size and composition compatible with longterm good health. The average daily intake of calories for a woman of 35 years is 2200 calories. In some countries this average is higher, even rising to 5,000 calories, and in others much lower, below the threshold of 1,800.

To measure what we commonly call “hunger”, there is a scale that determines an individual’s degree of food security. To the experts, it is known as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is an integrated classification of the degrees of food security. According to this scale, a nation can be said to be “food secure”, safe in terms of food, if more than 80% of households meet their caloric requirements.

When more than 20% of households have lower consumption with no economic resources for procurement and malnutrition is above the norm, we are facing an “acute food crisis”.

When consumption is further reduced, with high levels of malnutrition and mortality from starvation, it is called a “humanitarian emer12

gency”. The last level, “famine”, is when more than 20% of families face total lack of food, the mortality rate is high (two deaths per 10,000 people a day), and acute malnutrition exceeds 30%. This is the most serious and devastating situation, which can cause as many as hundreds of thousands of deaths.

In 2014, according to the Global Hunger Index (GHI), which is produced annually by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 805 million people suffered from hunger. Despite some improvements in sixteen countries, hunger levels are still “alarming” or “extremely alarming”.

Another two billion people are not classified as

Cereals

Food availability, undernourishment and obesity in the contemporary world

Corea del Nord

Filippine Cina Vietnam

Laos Tajikistan Uzbekistan

Cambogia

Nepal

Tailandia Bangladesh

Iraq

India

Siria Palestina Senegal

Mali Niger Eritrea Guinea Chad Burkina Faso Sierra Nigeria Leone Rep. Togo Centrafricana Liberia Costa Camerun Uganda d’Avorio Rwanda Burundi Congo

Zambia

Yemen

76 - 100 100 - 110 110 - 122 122 - 140 140 - 158 (Turchia)

Etiopia

Kenya

Undernourishment Million of undernourished people, 2013 213 (India)

Tanzania

Madagascar Zimbabwe Mozambico

Sri Lanka Food adequacy Ratio between food availability and food needs

Malawi

Angola

Indonesia

Pakistan

100 50 10 1 Obesity Country with an adult obesity rate greater than 24% Sources: FAO statistical databases, 2013

“food secure”, in particular because of lack of food rich in vitamins and minerals, which carries grave health consequences.

Yet one does not die only of hunger. The paradox of the modern world is that countries defined as “food secure” are experiencing an “epidemic” (as defined by the World Health Organization) related to the polar opposite factor: excessive calorie consumption. Better known as obesity. In the world today, 2,1 billion people are overweight or obese. These are people who risk serious illness and whose life expectancy is reduced. On average, an obese person (with a body mass index, BMI, of 35-40) lives on average 7 years less

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

than a healthy person. In the US, about 35% of men are obese, while 38% are overweight. In Italy three out of ten adults are overweight, and 1 in 10 suffer from obesity. The most alarming data, though, is for youth.

Our country has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in Western countries, second only to the US: 26.9% of Italian children aged 6 to 17 years are overweight. This percentage increases in children between 6 and 10 years old, reaching up to 35.7%: this means one in three in this age range, or about a million children total (data from the Ministry of Health). Historically? In 1970, only about 3% of children were overweight. ‹

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

13

Wall Street Food During 2008 and 2011, global food prices rapidly increased, leading to unrest around the world.

These price spikes are part of a general trend of increasing global food prices, which have steadily risen since 2000.

Between 2000 and 2012, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Food Price Index, a measure of the prices of international commodity crops, more than doubled. Food price volatility has increased dramatically since 2006, causing rapid price fluctuations. While food prices have since stabilized, they remain high and continue to exacerbate issues of hunger and food insecurity around the world.

Professor Oliver de Schutter, the United Nations Rapporteur for the Right to Food, says the reasons usually cited for high food prices – demand for biofuels, China’s increased appetite for meat, and the growing world population – are minor catalysts. Instead, the volatility and increasing prices in the market are largely due to unregulated financial speculation on food commodities.

According to recent articles in Time Magazine and The Atlantic and a report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, financial speculation has broken the commodities market by undermining its ability to act as a stabilizing force for farmers, buyers and consumers. As commodity trading and speculation has become increasingly divorced from the realities of food production, food prices have come to reflect the sentiments of financial speculators, rather than the laws of supply and demand.

Danielle Nierenberg, Eden Kincaid, FoodTank

14

While food commodity speculation affects prices globally, its impacts are more pronounced in the developing world, where 60% or more of a family’s income is spent on food. Even small increases in prices can push middle-class families into hunger.

The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that every 1% increase in food prices pushes 16 million more people into hunger.

Nearly a billion people worldwide are hungry and at the mercy of fluctuating food prices. If the commodities markets continue to drive food

prices, millions more will suffer. This tension is likely to surface in the form of civil unrest. According to Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam, founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute, there is a direct connection between food prices and civil unrest: “The peaks in food prices coincided with many food riots in 2007-08 and the Arab spring in 2010-11”. Further, his work has demonstrated that the relationship between food prices and unrest can be scientifically modeled.

Bar-Yam explains, “there is a specific threshold of about 210 on the FAO index above which unrest becomes likely. Today, the price is just above that threshold, so there is pressure that can be triggered at any time by local conditions”.

Although food prices have stabilized, they are expected to continue to increase in the coming decades. Oxfam has warned that prices of staples such as wheat and rice may double in the next 20 years. These pronounced increases in the prices of these staple crops, which are the foundation of the diets of low-income people around the world, can help create the conditions for exacerbated hunger and unrest.

Sophia Murphy of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Timothy Wise of Tufts University found that responsible regulations, such as those introduced in the 2012 Commodity Exchange Act, can tackle excessive financial speculation and prevent it from driving food prices higher. According to Dr. Bar-Yam, “the best strategy would be to reduce the U.S. mandate on corn to ethanol conversion, for which bills are currently pending in Congress, and to re-regulate the commodity markets”. The Milan Protocol, an international agreement to solve issues of hunger, sustainable agriculture, and food waste, also recommends the creation of regulatory frameworks for speculation, arguing that food commodity speculation “threatens the human right to food”.

Without regulatory intervention, food prices are expected to continue to increase. Like the dotcom burst and the subprime mortgage crash, Wall Street speculators are driving a food commodities bubble to its breaking point. If it bursts, high food prices could become the new norm, impacting wallets and bellies everywhere. ‹

Cereals

Gambling with food

Money for food Percent of annual consumer expenditures on food, 2013 Less than 15 15 - 25 25 - 40 More than 40 N.D

Skyrocketing prices FAO Food Price Index 250

The U.S. introduce a law that de facto allows stock markets to speculate on food commodities

200

150 Nominal prices Real Prices (deflated) 100

Index: 2002/04 = 100

50

0 1961

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

Financial holdings in agricultural commodity derivative markets

Supply and demand of two most consumed cereals in the world

Billion dollars 140

Index: 1997 = 100 Price

200 150

120

100 100

Wheat

Demand Supply

50 0 1997

80

2005

Index: 1997 = 100 60

2011 Price

250 200

40

150

Maize Demand

Supply

100

20

50 0 2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

0 1997

Sources: FAO statistical databases and ERS-USDA 2014; World Development Movement, Broken Markets, 2011

2005

2011 Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

15

Š Giada Connestari

L I V E S T O C K

2

Canada

Stati Uniti

Meat production and consumption, can it be sustainable?

Messico Guatemala Salvador

Cuba Giamaica Honduras

Rep. Dominicana

Nicaragua

Costarica Panama

Venezuela Colombia

Ecuador Brasile Peru Bolivia

The impacts of meat production on a large scale are well known. And with a global consumption that according to the FAO will increase 73% by 2050, the question is: can sustainability be part of the conversation? If you follow a diet like a Mediterranean one, the answer is yes. According to “The sustainability of meat in Italy�, research by economic consulting firm, LCE, in Turin, eating a bit of everything has positive effects on sustainability as well as health.

The Italian study explains how the foods with the largest impact on the environment are also those consumed in smaller quantities, and which have greater nutritional value. In a proper food model like the Italian one, explains the researchers, the carbon footprint of meat is equal to 5.9 kg of CO2 equivalent. Such a figure falls in line with that of fruit and vegetables, which comes to 5.6 kg.

With a world population that will increase from 7 to 9 billion people by 2050, the apparent scenario is a general increase in demand for food, which covers both energy intake (grains), and protein (meat, eggs, milk, and vegetable protein). In this context, meat is a candidate, willingly or not, for making a valuable contribution by presenting a variety in food options, which is necessary for a healthy diet.

To cope with this growth in consumption, using environmentally friendly practices is essential.

The increase in food production must therefore be based on more efficiently using existing areas and reducing impacts of livestock raising. The first step coincides with a global effort to reduce 18

Paraguay

Uruguay Cile Argentina

waste, and with systematically using the areas best suited to production, thus affecting the efficient use of water, land, and energy.

According to Chatham House and Glasgow University Media Group, factory livestock raising causes large soil and water consumption, and is the greatest source of methane gas and nitrous oxide. If current food trends are not changed by 2055, emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrogen (N2) will be more than double their 1995 levels.

While work remains to be done in the environmental field in the coming years, livestock supply chains already represent an important resource on the economic and social level. Suffice it to say that in Italy alone the meat industry employs more than 180 thousand employees, generating an economic value of 30 billion euro per year. When compared to the nearly 180 billion of the entire food industry and to 1,500

Livestock

World's livestock

Svezia

Norvegia Gran Bretagna

Finlandia

Germania Olanda Belgio

Irlanda

Russia

Danimarca

Francia Svizzera Spagna

Polonia Bielorussia

Rep. Ceca Ungheria Romania Austria

Italia

Grecia

Israele

Giappone

Turkmenistan

Turchia

Tunisia

Corea del Nord

Uzbekistan

Azerbaijan

Serbia

Portogallo

Kazakhstan

Ucraina

Siria

Corea del Sud

Iran Afganistan Cina

Marocco

Giordania

Algeria

Libia

Pakistan

Egitto

India

Arabia Saudita Mali

Niger

Tailandia

Vietnam

Myanmar

Yemen

Sudan

Taiwan

Bangladesh

Filippine

Nigeria

Cambogia Ethiopia

Camerun Uganda

Kenya

Livestock production index Production 2014 compared with 2004-2006 More than 10% Decrease 10 - 0%

Tanzania Angola

Zambia Zimbabwe Mozambico

Sudafrica

Malesia

Sri Lanka

Madagascar

Indonesia

0 - 20% Increase 20 - 50% More than 150% N.D Meat production Million tonnes, 2013

Australia

53

Beef Chicken

10 5 1 0,1

Nuova Zelanda

Pork Goat

Sources: statistics World Bank and FAO

of the national GDP, this figure is significant.

In developing countries, however, urban smallscale farms can make an important contribution to reducing poverty and gender differences. Animals are a significant source of income for people of many disadvantaged regions, and often the women in developing countries are able to obtain a certain measure of economic independence by raising their own animals.

Facing growth in global meat consumption is one of the main challenges of our century. We therefore need to move beyond ideological battles to find sustainable production methods. At the same time, it is important to moderate consumption and to reduce waste. Total meat consumption for Italian families, for example, is estimated at about 2.6 million tons annually – an unacceptable amount, considering the scourge of world hunger and the shortage of resources with which humanity is already grappling. ‚

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Global meat production

Million tonnes 140

Pork

120

Chicken

100 80

Beef

60 40

Goat

20 0 1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

Sources: FAO statistical databases, accessed in April 2015

2020

Andrea Bertaglio Contributor for La Stampa Tuttogreen

19

Chicken for the many

Chicken slaughtered Million

More meat for all?

15

12

9

Everywhere you turn, someone is talking about the vegetarian diet. In the corners of every city, more vegan restaurants and small markets with vegan and vegetarian products are opening. It would seem that the food trend is to abandon animal protein altogether and to confidently embrace this new diet, considered healthier and “green”. Perhaps this is true for a niche of “aware” consumers, but the reality of food consumption is quite different.

On a global level, the supply and demand of meat is increasing: according to the FAO in 2013, production was 308.5 million tons, rising to 311.8 million tons in 2014.

The growth rate varies from region to region.

While in Europe and in the United States, the main meat producers of the 20th century, consumption growth is very slow, if not stagnant, emerging markets – particularly in Asia – will grow to gain 80% of the meat market by 2020.

The countries involved in this incredible increase in consumption are China and India, where a strong demand for meat has been established – and is continuously growing – by the new members of the middle class.

The evolution of the production system follows ever the same route: switching from a system of expansive, non-industrial livestock raising, in which the animals are left at pasture and meat processing takes place in the vicinity of the company, to intensive livestock raising where animals live in confinement and meat is processed and distributed at great distances from the place of origin. Southeast Asia is going through the same transformation that industrialized nations have already seen, most prominently the United States at the end of the 19th Century. At the same time, technologies and investments that characterize industrial meat production are invading emerging countries, which are rapidly becoming heavy players in the global market.

20

Nord America

Stati Uniti Messico

6

3

America Centrale Colombia

2000 2013

Sud America

0

The increase in demand has led to a new supply structure – at least in Western countries. Factory livestock raising took shape in Europe and the United States, when feed, energy, and land had low costs. Today in the West, all three of these production factors are scarce, and the cost has greatly increased. Consequently, total beef production has slowed its rate of growth. The market is growing only for pork and poultry, as both of these species optimize feed intake and can be bred in confined spaces. Making them de facto the only way possible to satisfy the insatiable demand for meat at low costs. Unsurprisingly, by 2022 nearly half of the additional consumption of meat will be chicken meat – the majority low quality.

Even Africa is slowly climbing the food chain.

Consumption rises although both supply and demand are not at the level of Asia and South America: meat production across the continent is about 10.5 million tons, and meat consumption per capita is still very low (approximately 20 kg of meat/year). However, the national per capita, not that of consumption, is the one to measure: the population in countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Ethiopia is growing at a rate unparalleled across the globe. ‹

Livestock

Russia Europa Africa Settentrionale

Asia Occidentale

Asia Orientale

Cina

Iran India Asia Meridionale

Tailandia Sud Est Asiatico

Population growth Annual rate, 2013

Brasile

Indonesia

-1,1 to -0,25 -0,25 to 0,25 0,25 to 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 More than 3

Africa Meridionale

N.D Riccardo Pravettoni

Sources: World Bank and FAO statistical databases

2015

Global meet demand grows quicker than the population Index 1961=100 1 000 Chicken

900 800 700 600 500

Goat

400

Pork

300

Beef 200 World population

100 1961

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010 2013

Sources: FAO statistical databases, accessed in April 2015

Linda Fioriti Agrarian economist

21

Biodiversity on the plate Every time we bite into a piece of steak, it’s like we are swallowing a small piece of the planet.

Livestock raising provides a significant portion of our protein needs and often requires, especially where extensive, just as extensive portions of land to feed billions of cattle.

Although more and more are trying to produce and consume meat sustainably, some issues remain unresolved. For example, when we cut a forest down to make room for livestock – still widespread in South America and Africa, whether for cattle, goats, or even Andean llama – we first and foremost reduce the forest resources needed to absorb CO2, thus increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Even if this problem is known, what is often not considered is the impact of farming on plant and animal biodiversity. Regarding the flora, the collateral damage includes destroying many ecological niches, where plant species – even rare ones – become at risk. Apart from the direct devastation of deforestation, what also often occurs is known as fragmentation of habitats. Trees are often chopped to make way for pastures without regard for the biological areas, leaving the forest with patchy distribution. This fragmentation drains the strength of a habitat, 22

weakening and often killing species spared from deforestation.

The same applies to animal biodiversity. Habitat fragmentation is often detrimental to the reproduction of animals that find themselves confined to limited natural areas. This “segregation” makes it difficult to meet their food needs and have the ability to reproduce.

The consequences are not insignificant. More than 4 thousand species of plants and animals are threatened by farming and extensive agriculture.

This means losing species that play an important role in defending the ecosystem from potential pests or invasive species, increasing exposure to potential threats. It means erosion of important wild species, often medicinal plants which have taken millions of years to find a balance and create stable and healthy ecological niches.

The impacts of livestock raising do not end here.

To the loss of animal and vegetable biodiversity must also be added the effects of climate change (transformation of the climatic conditions of a biome) and the weight of water consumption linked to the production of meat and dairy products. Livestock raising actually contributes 14% of greenhouse gas emissions, and about half of the water consumed is used for food production. The consequences are often dire in numerous natural environments.

Livestock

Monoculture and cattle threatens biodiversity

VENEZUELA

GUYANA SURINAME

COLOMBIA

GUIANA FRANCESE

PERU BOLIVIA

BRASILE

Brazilian Amazonia limits Forest converted to Agriculture (mainly Soja) Livestocks (Cattle) Sources: IBGE, online maps, accessed in August 2014

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Holstein-Friesian cows... Everywhere!

Countries where the specie Holstein Friesian is used for dairy production Sources: FAO; Heinrich Bรถll Foundation, The Meat Atlas, 2014

Cows, goats, pigs, and rabbits: they too are victims of the lack of biodiversity. Increasingly the maximization of animal production is pushing for a loss of biodiversity of these bred animals. Over 30% of mammals and birds raised (about 1,500 breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, and poultry) are at risk. In Italy over 130 breeds are threatened with extinction, including some 38 breeds of sheep, 24 cattle, 22 goats, 19 horses, 10 pigs, 10 of poultry,

and 7 of donkeys. From the Romagnola donkey to the Mora Romagnola pig, from the Chianina to Garfagnina cows. Of the latter, only 145 remain. To make room for the more common and widespread types. And when animal biodiversity decreases, the few remaining races are heavily exposed to diseases and epidemics. Animal biodiversity, as a matter of fact, also serves as an antibody to safeguard all species. โ น

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

23

I S

Š Emanuele Bompan

F H

3

I N G

Nort East Pacific

0.0

Canada

Stati Uniti

-13.8

Central West Atlantic

Messico

9.7

-17,4 Venezuela Colombia

Central East Pacific

Ecuador Brasile Peru

South East Pacific

Where are all the fish?

An ocean without life? It seems almost impossible to even imagine. Yet the exponential increase in fishing and use of unsustainable practices (trawling, monster boats, using explosives, disregarding quotas) has substantially decreased the number of many aquatic species in both rivers and seas. Our consumption has increased.

Today we eat an average of seventeen pounds of fish per capita per year. Four times what they ate in 1950. Climate change and pollution have done the rest. In the seas today there are areas without oxygen because of excessive fertilizer use. The highest average temperatures (1-2 °C), according to a study published in the journal, Global Change Biology, would contribute to reducing the body size of some fish by about 23%. Water pollution, on the other hand, (think of the Deepwater Horizon platform incident or to the tons of 26

Cile

Argentina

-5,5

-21,4 South Western Atlantic

waste thrown into the ocean or rivers) remains a threat to many aquatic species, causing diseases or mass epidemics.

As a result of these effects, the global population of some fish has been reduced by up to 80%, as is the case for some types of tuna, or sturgeon (now a protected species). For some mammals, passing this threshold would mean condemnation to extinction. Fortunately for us, fish have high reproductive capacities and, although decimated, any species can return to repopulate the seas. But rules must be put in place to stop the pollution of the oceans and to contain unlimited fishing, known to experts as overfishing.

From a commercial perspective, overfishing and the “shrinkage” of some pelagic species have seriously damaged the fishing industry’s economy. Despite continuous technological improvements of fishing fleets, catch levels

Fishing

Big catches, weakened fishing grounds Isole Farøer Groenlandia Norvegia Islanda

Nort East Atlantic

Svezia

Gran Bretagna

Irlanda

Danimarca

Olanda Germania

Francia -21.1 Portogallo

Spagna

Finlandia Russia Lettonia

Polonia

North Western Pacific

Ucraina

Corea del Nord

Italia

Cina

Turchia Mediterranean and Black Sea

Marocco

Giappone Iran

-13,3 Pakistan Mauritania

Oman

Senegal Nigeria

Filippine Birmania Tailandia

Sri Lanka

Mozambico

-10,0

Eastern Indian Ocean 38,7

Sudafrica

-17,7 Australia

1 0,5 0,1

South East Atlantic

25.4

Papua Nuova Guinea

Indonesia

Sea fish catch Million tonnes, 2013 10

Arctic and Antarctic Oceans

Malesia 11.5

1.9

Namibia

Central Western Pacific

Cambogia

Singapore

Western Indian Ocean

Angola Central East Atlantic 14.3

Vietnam

India

Maldive

Ghana Sierra Leone

Taiwan

Bangladesh

Yemen

Guinea

8.0

Corea del Sud

Fishing Aquaculture International fishing areas defined by FAO -1,0 Increase or decrease of fish catches between 2002 and 2012

South Western Pacific

Nuova Zelanda

Note: only countries with an annual catch above 0,1 are represented. Catches are only related to marine fish Sources: FAO statistical database, accessed in April 2015

are likely to remain stagnant for the next 1020 years, says a report commissioned by the World Economic Forum. Such a rate will lead to a global economic loss estimated at about fifty billion dollars – per year.

To compensate for such wastefulness, we must look to aquaculture, contained fish farming. Today this growing market covers 43% of the fish consumed for food. Dominating the market at the moment are the Asian countries, led by China.

This, however, could have two negative effects in the long run. On the one hand, financially speaking, the market will be exposed to greater price volatility, which negative consequences on the economies of developing countries. On the other hand, the increase in aquaculture could produce significant environmental impacts. The list is long: pollution from animal waste, excessive use of fresh water (in water-scarce areas), excessive use of antibiotics and their related biological im-

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

pacts, the escape of invasive species that damage the balance of ecosystems, and so on.

Solutions are not lacking. For one, common controls are needed to stop overfishing and to adopt measures for sustainable fisheries (see the next section on bycatch). Fishermen also must be trained so that they understand the importance of respecting the quotas, so that severely endangered species have the time and opportunity to reproduce.

For aquaculture as well, there are procedures to limit the impact. According to the FAO, aquaculture done sustainably will be a fundamental opportunity to provide food resources to the global population, above all for a greater diversification of the diet. Such measures will not only benefit the poorest countries, but will also sustain consumption in Western countries, given the ever-shrinking natural fish stocks. ‹

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

27

Big fishing boat eats little fishing boat Aquatic fishing is an important source of food for many people around the world. According to FAO data, seas and rivers sustain over 180 million people and their families. They also sustain employees of aquaculture, river fishermen with small boats, sailors, and workers on board the large “monster” fishing boats.

Ninety percent of these people are employed in small fishing activities, often at the household level, where women make up a significant part. To a considerable number, fishing is a direct source of food, and only secondarily a source of income.

A safe and economical source of essential protein, especially in less developed countries such as Somalia or Burma.

The fishing industry quadrupled from the 1950s to 1990, then has remained stable until today. The increase in the last twenty years, at an average annual rate of about 9%, has been aquaculture.

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

28

Yet, small-scale fishermen are now in constant competition for fish resources with the large, industrial fishing vessels, also known as Factory Ships, giants that have fishing equipment on board as well as systems for processing and freezing fish. Like Annelies Ilena, a good 144 meters long, with the ability to process 350 tons of fish

a day and to stock about 7 thousand. Remaining at sea for weeks thanks to a tank of 3 thousand tons of fuel. Competition is impossible for small fishermen, armed with simply equipped boats of 3-4 meters, who often see fish stocks decimated by the monster boats.

“Here in Dakar we no longer find fish out there. More often, the big boats come into our areas to fish and take everything they find”, says Ramatullah Diouf, a Senegalese fisherman of 33 years old. A common situation in many countries. According to Greenpeace Italy, “a few industrial fishing barons are recklessly enriching themselves by exploiting the seas, with no respect for the environment or for the people who depend on these resources”.

Small-scale fishing, however, should not always be seen as a sustainable alternative to the fishing industry. Often small fishermen in developing countries lack the equipment to control fish stocks, equipment to fish in the high seas, and strategies for limiting the bycatch. Forced by conditions, in many cases they resort to trawling, using explosives, and other unsustainable practices, often without monitoring by the maritime authorities and no real control by the community. Numerous international cooperation efforts work on reinforcing the monitoring and training of small-scale fishermen to withstand the great fishing operations. ‹

Fishing

Small fishermen and Sea titans In a single fishing trip, the world's biggest trawlers (144 metres and 14 thousands tonnes) produces as much as around 7 thousands traditional fishing boats in one year

= 10 crew members = 10 traditional fishing boats, with 5 to 10 fishermen

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Sources: www.atlantic-dawn.com; The Guardian, press review

29

Inside the net In the fishing sector, the term bycatch means fish or other marine species caught unintentionally during the “hunt” to target valuable species.

Small fish, undersized animals, crabs or juveniles of the target species end up in the trawl or in other types fishing nets without being the fishermen’s true prey. These, after dying in the net, are thrown back to the sea. A massacre of animals in recent years has contributed to the rapidly declining fish stocks (with serious economic and food security consequences in many African countries), and to depleting marine environments once rich in biodiversity.

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

30

According to the environmental organization WWF, to get a pound of shrimp in the net you take ten, sometimes even twenty pounds of “unwanted” fish: water snakes, turtles, or other fish that live in the seas, unfit for commerce or consumption. Even catching flying fish with nets for sole causes high quantities of bycatch. For 400 grams of sole destined for the sales counters, up to 2,400 grams of other marine animals die and are then thrown back into the sea as bycatch.

Sometimes they are still alive, but often they are already dead. Nets often impact flying creatures as well, such as albatrosses. The birds are caught when the nets are lowered into the sea with bait attached to the strings of the trawl, which become lethal traps for the birds.

The main victims of bycatch are particularly cetaceans, such as dolphins and whales, who are dying in ever increasing numbers from the mega-nets of trawling. Each year, according to Greenpeace UK, around 300 thousand dolphins die. Their deaths are often linked to tuna fishing with nets that do not comply with the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program, an international agreement in 1999 that prohibits tuna fishing enterprises from harming the odontoceti. In many countries, corruption and lack of resources and personnel make fishing controls a mere chimera.

Today trawl nets larger than 2.5 km have been banned worldwide by a United Nations resolution, while the European Union has forbidden any type of trawl or drifting net. When you buy tuna you can verify that it was caught in compliance with the rules to limit the bycatch of dolphins.

In countries where control policies on bycatch have been strictly implemented, such as the US, the results have been extraordinary. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in 2014 bycatch has reached historic lows. “Scientific management of fishing and judicious use of nets can make a big difference”, says Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. A signal that bycatch can be stopped permanently. ‹

Fishing

Fish thrown away

Industrial fishing, Europe

Fish catch Used Discarded = 1%

Traditional fishing, Developing countries

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Sources: UNEP, Food wasted, food lost, 2015

31

L I

Š Giada Connestari

C M

4

A T E

If the climate changes A double cord binds food and climate. There are extreme events (such as droughts, heat waves, and floods) that can cause phenomena that harm cultivated areas and are environmentally disastrous. There is an increasing temperature and decreasing rainfall (particularly in the summer) that for some species results in a greater demand for irrigation, and thus a higher water requirement. There is the increase in CO2 concentration, which for certain crops may have a fertilizing effect. Then there is a different quality of the soil and a different range of diseases and pests that attack plants. These are a brief example of the impacts that, produced and exacerbated by climate change, will either mildly or severely challenge the food industry, depending on how we will limit greenhouse gas emissions and how we will put adaptation strategies in place. And then there are the greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere to produce what we eat. To sum it all up in a number: around 10% of the anthropogenic production of these gases comes from agriculture.

Donatella Spano President, Italian Society for Climate Science Mauro Buonocore CMCC, Office of Communications

34

This double bond is right in front of our noses.

We need not wait decades to understand how and where these effects may occur. In many regions wheat and corn yields are already adversely affected by climate change, while rice and soybeans have been more moderately impacted. If we look to the future and what might happen, some convincing signs tell us that we can expect a general decline in production capacity. This will also be closely linked to a decrease in the quality of products, with negative consequences in the quality of production as we see growing areas shift to

higher altitudes and latitudes. Even if some limited areas might benefit from better conditions, in other areas the impacts of climate change will be stringent within the context of growing demand for agricultural products, with consequences on price fluctuations and food security.

Some examples can help to translate all of this more concretely, and can be drawn from observations about some grains and crops valued highly both economically and environmentally value, for which decreases in quality and quantity of production are expected to continue to drop as the growing areas move northward.

The vine is a case in point, for which a warmer client could reduce the risk of damage from frost.

At the same time, warmer temperatures would increase the demand for irrigation. This is especially true for areas such as the Mediterranean, characterized by reduced water resources and consequent impacts on the quantity and quality of the grapes produced. New potential areas for viticulture could emerge in Western and Central Europe, even perhaps with improvements in the quality of the wine.

Grains are certainly one of the major focal points of the studies on the relationship between climate change and food, because although some regions might benefit from an increase in temperature, without adaptation the yields of major grains (wheat, rice, and corn) will already decrease by 2050 in tropical and temperate regions, with even more intense reductions scheduled for the end of the century, along with a gradual increase of the inter-annual variability in production. ‚

Climate

Climate change affects agricultural production Increase or reduction in agricultural production on year 2000, for the top five producers

Percentage 100

50

How does maize, wheat and soja production change? Variations due to climate change are shown as predictive models. The first scenario consider a mean climate change impact related to temperature increase. The second includes extreme temperatures around crop anthesis, while the third consider also the impact of increased presence of CO2 as fertilizer (at times positive, at times negative)

Increase

0 China

United States -50

Reduction Mexico Brazil

-100

Maize

Argentina Direct CO2 fertilization effects Extreme temperatures around crop anthesis Canada

IPCC scenarios for 2080

Mean climate change

China

United States

Turkey

Australia

Wheat

China

Argentina

United States India Brazil Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Soja Sources: Deryng, D., et al., Global crop yield response to extreme heat stress under multiple climate change futures, 2014

35

Canada

Messico

The coming water crisis

Ecuador

Water withdrawal for agriculture Cubic kilometres per year* Less than 100 100 - 500 500 - 2 000 2 000 - 5 000 More than 5 000

Brasile

Cile

Uruguay

N.D

Every inhabitant of the planet consumes water daily, even multiple times a day, from the moment of birth until death. Whether human, animal, or vegetable, water is a fundamental element for life in all of its possible forms.

Irrigated land Percentage of irrigated land on total agriculture land* 100% 70 10 1 * Data for the last year available

Each human’s minimum biological need for water is estimated at 5 liters per day. This, according to the United Nations, rises to twenty factoring in sanitary uses. Not surprisingly, the right to water is linked to the right to health services. The International Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (Convenzione internazionale sui diritti economici, sociali e culturali, 1996) considers so-called blue gold in terms of supply, but also as a part of daily activities. It is used to wash, to work, to play, and for cultural and religious purposes.

Worldwide, the consumption of water resources per capita varies based on local availability and accessibility. In Italy, estimated consumption is 200 liters per day. Clearly, none of us use so much directly. The calculation factors in consumption connected to industry and, above all, the agriculture and livestock necessary to feed us (around 80% of the total). In the United States, consumption per capita rises to 450 liters per day, the highest in the world, an indicator that suggests waste and over-consumption. Meanwhile, in the least developed countries, especially in the Sahel region, availability and poverty limit consumption 36

Sources: FAO and World Bank statistical databases, accessed in April 2015

to less than 10 liters, well under the minimum threshold established by the ONU (20 liters).

These figures are known, but are often not connected to the fact that water is a finite good. Although extremely widespread throughout the planet (of which two thirds is covered in ocean), not all regions have aquifer deposits sufficient to satisfy growing consumption. Tropical areas are often those where water is most abundant. The Amazon River flows through the greatest water basins in the world. But it is not sufficient. Tropical regions are particularly culpable for “over-pumping”: in Brazil, India, and Indonesia, in spite of the abundance, water basins are over used to sustain livestock and “water pump” plantations like those of palms used for oil.

In Europe and North America, water has always been considered abundant and easily accessible.

In the past few years, however, the entire West Coast of the United States and Canada is increas-

Climate

Need for water in agriculture

Norvegia Svezia

Finlandia Russia Corea del Nord Giappone

Kyrgyzistan

Azerbaijan Turchia

Marocco

Tunisia Algeria

Tajikistan

Armenia Siria Libano

Cipro

Israele

Iran

Giordania

Emirati Arabi

Niger

Cina

Afganistan India

Pakistan

Birmania

Filippine

Sudan Brunei

Etiopia

Ghana

Kenya

Malawi Mauritius Madagascar Australia

Leshoto Lettonia Germania Belgio

Francia Spagna Portogallo

Bielorussia

Polonia

Rep. Ceca Slovacchia Svizzera Ungheria Slovenia Croazia

Ucraina Moldavia Romania

Serbia

Macedonia

Italia Grecia

ingly arid, and the same has been found for other areas of the Pacific, Australia in particular. More and more regions that are unable to satisfy water demand head towards a food, economic, social, and cultural shock. The reduction in water resources, especially where consumption has never suddenly dropped, brings a general need to reconsider the modern lifestyle from every angle: large cities built in the desert, like Las Vegas or Dubai, must revise their water use and consumption, no matter how much they invest.

Man has seemingly managed to overcome the effects of the food and energy crisis, which historically have always threatened development. The solution found was often connected to an exponential increase in water consumption (for agriculture or for energy production). Now, however, in a world of seven billion people, water availability per capita is reduced, and endangers the development of humanity itself. ‚

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Water for food Volume of water required to: Rice

Soja Wheat

1 Kg

Maize 100 litres

Beef

Potatoes Source: Hoekstra, A. Y., Virtual Water Trade, IHE Delft, 2003.

Giovanni Venegoni Research Associate, Food Lab, University of Parma

37

What a waste!

Every day, a third of worldwide food production reaches our stomachs. In the homes of billions of people, in restaurants, and in supermarkets, huge amounts of food are thrown away.

Such waste signals that many countries have lost the true value of food, which has become a product to consume and throw away thoughtlessly, possibly even when it is still edible.

According to Andrea Segré, president of Last Minute Market, a spin-off of the University of Bologna, “we do not value food anymore: we need to strive to combat the loss of this value even more than the waste itself. It is a struggle that will lead us to return value to food, as well as to relationships”.

Emanuele Bompan Author of the Food4 project

38

This is not only a commitment that concerns those who do not have enough food. But this is also a concrete aid for the environment. From an energy point of view, food waste alone contributes each year to the emission of 3.3 million tons of CO2. This incredible figure comes from the report, Food wastage footprint. Impacts on natural resources, from the FAO’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management.

The carbon footprint from carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for climate change caused by wasted food, is the third largest in the world.

This is surpassed only by the global emissions of China and the United States. It is a volume 10 times higher than that of Italy.

And in terms of water, the impact is frightening. Worldwide, it is estimated that around 250 cubic km of water are throw away – the equivalent of the entire annual flow of the river Volga.

We are talking about 1.4 million hectares of land that need to be irrigated, in many cases using irrigation pumps. We are talking about land exploited to produce something that will never be used. We are even talking about deforestation, resettling native populations, and depleting the soil of nutrients.

The Belpaese does its part as well. Every year, 1.19 million tons of food are thrown out. At the supermarket, our receipts for wasted food would total over 8 billion euro. That’s 6.5 euro per family.

Every week.

How much energy could we keep if we found more workable ways to consume food without throwing it away?

The solutions are there. First, always make sure that foods that have passed the expiration date are truly spoiled. At the restaurant, always ask to be able to take home the leftovers. Today there is an app for smartphones to show the food that you cannot consume, such as BringtheFood, or sites like www.lastminutesottocasa.it, where shops that do not want to throw away expired food can send highly discounted offers to users who can then buy the food at heavily discounted prices.

Last of all, the most important rule: do not buy more than you can eat! ‹

Climate

Food produced and food wasted Million tonnes

Cereals

146

2 404

46

Fish 264

Meat

49 707

Oil crops and pulses

767 97

116

Dairy products

551 664

346

Fruits and vegetables

798 1 644

Roots and tubers

Total production 6 574 Million tonnes

Total production Food lost or wasted

Per capita food loss and waste Kilogrammes per year 350

North America and Oceania

North Africa, West and Central Asia

300 250 200

Europe Industrialized Asia

Consumption

150 100 50

Production to retail

0

Latin America

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Sub-Saharan Africa

South and Southern Asia

Sources: FAO, Global Food Losses and Food Waste, 2011

39

Stati Uniti

Messico Venezuela

Costa Rica Colombia Ecuador

Brasile Peru

Bolivia

Argentina

Biodiversity, a common good to feed the world From antibodies that our body activates to fight inflammation, to the rose plant that raises her arms against the hottest days, the universe is an extremely expressive living system with a unique tool to survive change: adapt.

Darwin said: the one that survives is the best at adapting to the surrounding environment.

The environment, in turn, is in a continuous process of adaptation. This is more than evolution; in fact, is it is more correct to speak of coevolution.

We are a unique tangle in the web of life, where the fate of durum wheat is intertwined with the behavior of polar bears, and the amount of meat we consume determines the fate of the bees.

40

This biological need and universal change that makes every part of the system flexible enough to interact with the others requires reserves, the “tanks of change” from which to draw, time and again, the solution to the problem. For this, maintaining and protecting biodiversity is critical to ensure the possibility of change.

Uniform systems stiffen and die, but not without an often very long agony causing irreversible damage. In fact, they (monocultures, or the massive productions always like them) require external inputs that defend them from what they do not know how to fight, or with what they cannot learn to live with – drought or pests, weeds, or diseases from overcrowding from livestock raising.

External inputs that, in one way or another, insist on natural resources: the fertility of the land, air, water…and so on.

Climate

To preserve the species

Russia

Cina

India

Vietnam Tailandia

Repubblica Democratica del Congo

Filippine

Malaysia Papua Nuova Guinea

Indonesia Tanzania

Madagascar

Australia

Sudafrica Biodiversity Number of species* 60 000 25 000 10 000

On the brink of extinction Number of species Less than 100 100 - 300 300 - 1 000 More than 1 000

* Total number of amphibian, bird, mammal, reptile, and vascular plant species.

Only values above 10 000 are shown Sources: Mongabay.com; IUCN Red List 2013

Biodiversity – essential to life – falls into the category of common goods to which all are entitled access. This access for use cannot be separated from responsibility and awareness that one holds this right in tandem with all the other inhabitants of the planet: human and non, present and future. If we disrupt the equilibrium that maintains agricultural and wildlife biodiversity – two parts of the great living system with a close and tight bond – we injure a common property over which we have no exclusive rights. Or rather, we have already injured, since in the last 100 years we have managed to eliminate 75% of all cultivated vegetable diversity.

But we will not be the only ones to pay the consequences of our mistakes. Indeed, our latitudes our debts to pay are much lower than the ones that will affect less fortunate countries. And we

have not the faintest idea how all this will impact the generations to come. Violating a law usually brings other violations and other rights denied. By denying the right of others to the patrimony of world biodiversity, we create the conditions to deny those people the most basic of rights: the right to food. For example, the climate change that we cause with our way of life creates the conditions for entire societies, which today live perched on the brink, on islands at risk of flooding, that will compel some to move to the slums, the bidonville, of some large cities because the sea level will soon cover their lives, their habits, and their securities, including those relating to culturally appropriate, healthy, and adequate food supplies. Food security is a right guaranteed by a common right called biodiversity, the protection of which is not only a duty, but a strategy. ‹

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Cinzia Scaffidi Vice President, Slow Food Italia

41

Cooperation to feed the world When we talk about cooperation in Italy, we often talk about food and nutrition security. Not only because the main international agencies of the United Nations for food are in Rome – FAO, IFAD, and the World Food Program – but also and most of all because for our country this is one of the pillars of development cooperation.

As a confirmation of the Italian agenda, in 2014 we allocated 120 million euro for projects in sectors related to sustainable agriculture, food security, and nutrition. The Italian intervention strategy does not just promote a mere increase in production, but it is increasingly focused on sustainable food systems. These systems take into account the entire value of the food chain and involve a greater commitment to nutrition, public health, community development, and cultural issues in order to achieve broader and more lasting results.

The projects are principally based on a territorial approach, emphasizing attention on environmental and socio-economic aspects with full involvement of the recipient populations and civil society.

The objectives of the projects for sustainable agricultural cooperation are guaranteed by governance and access to land, water, and phytogenetic and natural resources by families of farmers 42

and small producers. The emphasis is on: recognizing the role of women and fully respecting the constraints imposed by nature (“planetary boundaries”); to sustain traditional techniques of adaptation, and the capacity to cope with natural disasters; to promote development of agricultural, environmental, and social policies favorable to family farming and artisanal fishing; and enhancing the market competition of products in accordance with principles for sustainable diets.

We should not forget that the Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) was launched at the 2009 G-8 Summit in Italy, as an initiative for international food security that recognizes agriculture and food security’s key role in the development and stability of the planet. Concerned by the steady increase in malnutrition and inadequate levels of investment in agriculture, the leaders of 40 countries and the heads of international organizations have agreed to the Aquila to join forces in establishing a strategic plan and multi-year financial commitments.

The audit carried out in 2013 on the implementation of those commitments has shown that 67% of the Italian Cooperation’s programs adhere to the strategies of AFSI partner countries, and that 88% of the programs are aimed at achieving long-term goals through development projects related to food security. The particular attention to family agriculture and to strengthening the capacity of local and national partners should

Climate

Italian aids for food security

Corea del Nord

Guatemala El Salvador Nicaragua

Filippine

Cuba Vietnam Ucraina Bosnia

Ecuador

Mauritania Bolivia

Tunisia Mali

Senegal Brasile

Sierra Leone

Afganistan Iraq

Marocco

Peru

Birmania

Albania Siria

Niger

Burkina Faso Sud Sudan

Benin Rep. Democratica del Congo

Italian bilateral aid

Million Euro 10 50

India

Libano Palestina

Uganda

Sri Lanka Somalia

Etiopia Kenya Tanzania

Zambia

1 0,1

Mozambico

Official development assistance (ODA) Aid received by country from OECD* Percentage on GDP Donor countries

Sectors

Less than 5 5 - 10 10 - 25 More than 25

Agriculture, fishing and forestry Rural development Food aid

N.D

Only countries with a total aid above 100 000 Euros are shown

* Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Sources: OCSE; Ministero Italiano degli Affari Esteri; World Bank statistical database, accessed in April 2015

Riccardo Pravettoni

2015

Per capita aid from OECD countries

500 100 10 Dollar per capita, 2013 Sources: World Bank statistical database, accessed in May 2015

also be emphasized. In fact, over 70% of the funding is to help small farmers and ranchers, and a similar percentage is donated to support institutional actions. Additionally, about half of the projects include specific objectives in favor of women.

This is a commitment that, in light of the Rome Declaration adopted last November by the second International Conference on Nutri-

tion, is likely to continue for years to come to and also to remain a point of reference for the new Agency of Cooperation created by recent reforms. Italy has vast knowledge on food and agricultural sustainability, exploitation of territories, and resilience. This wealth of knowledge in our country and in our Development Cooperation, which is already involved in numerous successes around the world, will be further developed and deepened. ‚

Giampaolo Cantini General Director for the Italian Development Cooperation, Minister of External Affairs and International Cooperation

43

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SUPPORTED THE CHARTER OF MILAN http://carta.milano.it/it