A new analysis argues for the need to address food insecurity by recognizing the interconnected nature of global food systems.
In a commentary for the journal One Earth, Franziska Gaupp, Ph.D., a research scholar at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), argues that global food insecurity is increasingly susceptible to shocks because of the interdependence of the parts that make up the global food system.
For Gaupp, shocks to the supply of food — for example, extreme weather events that may damage or destroy crops — are challenging.
However, in our increasingly interconnected, globalized world, these shocks can come from events not directly related to growing food and can have far reaching consequences.
Despite the world producing more than enough food for everyone on the planet, yet around one-quarter of the world’s population does not have access to food that is nutritious and sufficient.
Gaupp argues that this extreme inequality will get worse as there is increased demand for food from growing, affluent populations, placing more stresses on the environment that secure food systems depend upon.
Climate change has also placed severe stress on global food systems, destroying the quality of land, increasing desertification, disrupting conventional rainfall patterns, and causing sea levels to rise. These stresses will get worse if temperatures significantly increase, as scientists predict.
However, while these are pressing concerns for the world’s ability to produce food, the interconnected nature of global food systems means that many other factors can affect food security. According to Gaupp, the global supply chain of food is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer companies.
SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE LINKED TO CANCER MORTALITY: A new study suggests that the total amount of time that people spend sitting is associated with a higher risk of death from cancer. Replacing some of this sedentary time with light physical activity appears to reduce the risk.
Getting regular physical activity is a proven way for people to lower their chance of developing cancer and dying from it.
The new study, by scientists at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, drew on the data of 8,002 adults aged 45 years and older who joined the ongoing REGARDS study between 2003 and 2007.
As part of that study, the researchers strapped accelerometers to participants’ hips to provide an objective measure of their activity levels over a period of 7 days. In the 5 years after this, 268 participants (3.3%) died of cancer. The researchers found that participants with the greatest total sedentary time had a 52% increased risk of dying from cancer compared with those who had the least sedentary time. However, there was notable uncertainty as to the exact size of the effect, with the best estimate ranging from a 1% to a 127% increased risk. Participants with the longest bouts of uninterrupted sedentary behavior had a 36% higher risk of cancer mortality compared with those with the shortest.
