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RESEARCH THEMES


1 OUTLOOKS AND GLOBAL CHANGE


Approximately three-fourths of the world’s hun- gry people live in rural areas and depend heavily on agriculture for their food and livelihoods. These areas often have a fragile natural resource base, with degraded soil, scarce water, and limited land. Poli- cies on managing natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, energy, property rights, and biosafety must be improved, and investments to sustainably increase productivity are critical.


CLIMATE CHANGE The effects of climate change are increasing pressure on already limited natural resources in many parts of the world, which puts the 900 million poor people who do not have enough to eat at even greater risk. How can the world’s farmers meet the food demand of a growing population despite an unstable climate and other food security challenges? In 2010, IFPRI’s


climate change experts and collaborators responded to this question with Food Security, Farming, and Climate Change to 2050, a research monograph in which the authors developed 15 different food security scenarios through 2050 based on alternative combinations of potential population levels, income growth, and climate change. CASE (climate, agricul- ture, and socioeconomic) maps—interactive online visualization tools—present much of the data underly- ing the report’s analysis and provide evidence that broad-based economic growth, improved agricultural productivity, and robust international trade can par- tially offset the negative effects of climate change on food security. To achieve these goals, increased public investment in land, water, and nutrient use and rela- tively free international trade are essential.


GLOBAL FOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCES The Institute’s global change research also looks at energy scarcity and its implications for agriculture. In collaboration with Stanford University and an inter- national team of researchers, an ongoing examina- tion of the relationship between biofuels and food security shows that strong biofuel growth can occur


Mali: To offset the ravages of climate change, including severe drought, investments in agriculture are a necessity. 5


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