More than 150 internationally awarded scientists ask to act now to avoid the looming global famine | Future Planet

More than 150 scientists who have won the Nobel Prize or the World Food Prize (Food Prize) affirm that enormous investments are needed throughout the food value chain and a great effort in research to avoid global famine by mid-century. “We are not in a position to meet future food needs. “We are not even close to doing it,” they said in an open letter titled Towards a world without hunger and published this Tuesday, in which they assure that “hope” lies in science.

Among those who sign the letter are Robert Woodrow Wilson, Nobel Prize winner in Physics; Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize winner in Literature; Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner in Economics; and several World Food Prize winners, such as Cary Fowler, outgoing US Special Envoy for Global Food Security.

After pointing out that 700 million people are currently food insecure and desperately poor, the award-winning scientists assure that “as difficult and uncomfortable as it may be to imagine, humanity is heading towards an even more unstable and insecure world in terms of food for middle of this century.”

A “vicious cycle of conflict and food insecurity” aggravates a situation in which approximately 350 million people do not know where they will get their next meal and 60 million children under five years of age suffer from stunted growth (cognitive and physical disability attributable to life) due to nutritional deficiencies.

Extreme weather events associated with climate change and population growth—by 2050 the Earth will have 1.5 billion more inhabitants than now—contribute to a gloomy outlook in terms of production and access to food. This food insecurity is exacerbated by soil erosion and land degradation, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, market pressures, conflict and policies that restrict innovation, the letter warns.

Faced with this situation, scientists ask to prioritize agricultural research and development and the dissemination of the advances achieved at a global level. “Society-sponsored research will be the basis of innovation that drives a successful food system in the future,” they say.

Efforts to “reverse our current trajectory toward a tragic mismatch between global food supply and demand” must be “definitive,” “transformative,” and “planet-friendly,” and encompass “the entire food value chain.” , from inputs to production and the post-harvest phase,” they emphasize.

Among other objectives, the improvement of photosynthesis in crops such as wheat and rice, the biological fixation of nitrogen in the main cereals, the transformation of annual crops into perennials and the development of new and forgotten crops are proposed.

Also innovations in various growing systems, improving the storage and shelf life of fruits and vegetables, creating nutrient-rich foods from microorganisms and fungi and the study and development of strategies to ensure that the fruits of These scientific research initiatives reach and benefit those most in need.