1.4 Key Environmental Challenges for Young People
Based on severe threats to the Earth System and the human drivers of environmental change, the key environmental challenges for young people can be highlighted under three themes: the food, energy and waste systems. In Chapter 3 of this report, we will use these three themes to look at how to address environmental challenges through individual actions and throughout our lifetimes.
a) Food: Food systems involve all the activities required to produce, process, store, package, distribute, consume and dispose of food. These systems are driven by trends in demand, including population growth, urbanization, income distribution and food supply (FAO 2018; World Food Programme 2019).
Food systems are highly vulnerable to climate change. This has repercussions on all the
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components of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability. Poorer countries are particularly vulnerable, with the greatest number of undernourished people living predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
An important way to help ensure food security is to reduce food loss and waste along food chains. Some 24 per cent of food loss and waste occurs during production and another 28 per cent during handling and storage (Lipinski et al. 2013). In high-income countries, about 56 per cent of total food loss and waste has been estimated to occur at the time food is consumed (FAO 2011; Lipinski et al. 2013). In emerging economies, on the other hand, 44 per cent of food is lost during the production phase (Ishangulyyev, Kim and Lee 2019).
Global food systems are struggling to deliver food and nutrition to a growing number of people. In 2019, for the third year in a row, both hunger and malnutrition are on the rise (United Nations Human Rights Council 2019). A sustainable system is needed to deliver nutritious, safe and affordable food (FAO 2018).
Did you know? Food consumption
• Global food consumption per person is expected to rise by 12 per cent by 2050 (FAO 2015a). This will be accompanied by changes in food preferences, with increasing consumption of livestock products.
• Approximately 30 per cent of the food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted. This wasted food could feed over 2 billion people, more than twice the number estimated to be undernourished globally (FAO 2015b).
• Food systems are estimated to contribute approximately 20-30 per cent of global GHG emissions (Vermeulen, Campbell and Ingram 2012; Fanzo et al. 2018). Most emissions are related to agricultural production. They are caused mainly by
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