Seminar : "Feeding the People and Maintaining the Planet" April 22

 “Feeding the People and Maintaining the Planet:  Meeting the Challenges by 2050.”

Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, World Wildlife Fund

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Reception @ 5:00 pm; Seminar from 5:30 – 6:45 pm

147 Communication Arts Building, Michigan State University

RSVP, Jennifer Patterson at patter34@anr.msu.edu by THURSDAY April 15.

We live on a finite planet. WWF’s Living Planet Index suggests that we are currently at 1.3 planets, exceeding the Earth’s carrying capacity. By almost any measure, producing food has the largest impact of any human activity. Most estimates suggest that we will need to produce twice as many calories on the same amount of land we use today if we want to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions. We know that what may be sustainable with 6.7 billion people will not be sustainable with 9 billion people, and that no single strategy will be sufficient to address this issue. WWF is implementing a strategy with the 100 global companies that are the most important in changing the way we produce 15 key commodities. We help companies and producers align incentives throughout supply chains to ensure long-term partnerships. WWF has identified 10 “food wedges” that will allow us to produce enough food for all and still have a living planet. These strategies focus on genetics, target crops, better practices, rehabilitation of degraded land, technology, property rights, waste and post harvest losses, overconsumption, and carbon. These strategies will allow us to increase food production while simultaneously reducing its footprint.