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Soil Degradation and Climate Change Threaten the Future of our Food System

According to the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, global food production is expected to decrease two percent every decade until 2050. Climate change and the use of synthetic substances are contributing towards the deterioration of soils worldwide. 

Three centimeters of topsoil take 1,000 years to develop. According to the UN, if current rates of degradation continue, all of the world’s topsoil could be gone within 60 years. About a third of the world’s soil has already been degraded. 

In the following video, farmers discuss the struggles of growing food with a changing climate and how organic agriculture not only benefits the earth, but also their bottom lines.…

Report: Sustainable Investing Grew in 2018, in Response to Climate Change

As a result of growing global concern over climate change, responsible investments grew by 34 percent to $30.7 trillion over the past two years (2016-2018).  

Europe remains the biggest region for sustainable investors with about $14 trillion devoted to these strategies, up 11 percent from 2016, according to a report from the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. Other markets, while smaller, are growing faster. Japan saw the biggest jump, with assets in sustainable strategies up fourfold to $2.2 trillion. The Government Pension Investment Fund, worth 150.7 trillion yen ($1.4 trillion dollars), signed the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2015. 

The PRI launched in the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. Today,…

Earth Day 2019 Focuses On Raising Awareness and Protecting The Planet’s Species

“If we do not act now, extinction may be humanity’s most enduring legacy.”
Earth Day Network 

Earth Day 2019 was celebrated on April 22nd, with this year’s theme “Protect our Species” highlighting the astounding rate of species lost to human influence. It was 49 years ago, on April 22nd, 1970, that millions of people took to the streets to protest the damage caused by 150 years of unchecked industrial development. Today, Earth Day is a global event in which more than 1 billion people in 192 countries take part during the largest civic-focused day of action in the world, according to the Earth Day Network.…

Decimation of Insect Species Could Lead To Collapse of Global Food Chain

“We are not alarmists, we are realists. 
We are experiencing the sixth mass extinction on Earth.”
Dr. Francisco Sanchez-Bayo, Sydney Institute of Agriculture 

40 percent of insect species could disappear over the next 100 years, according to a recent review by a prominent scientist from the Sydney Institute of Agriculture. Dr. Francisco Sanchez Bayo says that habitat loss from intensive agriculture, alongside agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change, are the main drivers behind the collapse of insect populations. Insects constitute the world’s most abundant animal group – about two thirds of all terrestrial species – and provide critical services within numerous ecosystems.…

Brazilian President Meets with President Donald Trump and US Business Leaders

“Brazil is going to keep doing business with as many countries as possible.”
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro

Newly elected president Jair Bolsonaro recently visited the US in order to meet with US president Donald Trump and business leaders. The White House meeting came a day after Paulo Guedes, Brazil’s economic minister, declared Latin America’s biggest economy open to US investment. On March 18, executives from some of the US’s largest companies warmly welcomed Bolsonaro and his ministers. “We are here to open our markets unilaterally,” Guedes, who is spearheading a radical economic reform program, told the meeting of businessmen in Washington.…

Human Activity is Causing the Sixth Mass Extinction and Threatening Wildlife

March 3rd marked the celebration of World Wildlife Day, a day that comes amongst the biggest human-caused wildlife crisis in history. Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles since 1970 and experts warn that the biological annihilation of wildlife will have serious ecological, economic and social consequences, threatening the survival of civilization. A sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is underway and is more severe than previously feared.

The animals and plants that live in the wild have an intrinsic value and contribute to the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic aspects of human well-being and sustainable development.…

Congressional Resolution Could Signal the Beginning of a Sustainable Era

Democratic leaders in the US have brought forward a congressional resolution to tackle climate change: the Green New Deal. Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, the proposal calls on the federal government to wean the United States from fossil fuels, curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy, guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean energy industries, and combat racial and economic inequalities.

The Green New Deal is not the only sustainable initiative in the world. A green movement has also been taking place in Europe and has led to substantial commitments towards fighting climate change.…

Senator Marco Rubio: US and Brazil Relationship Will Help Drive Trade and Development

“The Trump administration should move quickly to advance goals that would be welcomed by the Bolsonaro government.”
Florida Senator, Marco Rubio

Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration as President of Brazil on New Year’s Day has marked a radical departure from its previous leftist, anti-American governments, ushering a promising future for the relationship between Brazil and the US. With the Bolsonaro government having indicated it seeks an even closer security and economic relationship with the United States, American politicians are starting to raise awareness about this historic opportunity to bring both nations closer together. Recently, Florida Senator Marco Rubio published an opinion piece titled “US Should Go Big on Brazil”, in which he describes how an improved strategic alliance will benefit both nations, ensuring continued peace, expanded prosperity and stability for the Western Hemisphere.…

Current Food Systems Unsustainable Given Rising Population and Climate Change

In a recent report, the 130 national academies of science and medicine that compose the InterAcademy Partnership, have united to urge policy-makers to take immediate action on climate change, to improve the sustainability of global food systems and end hunger. The past year has revealed just how vulnerable food production systems are to extreme weather and other results of man-made climate change, and how this is threatening to reverse efforts that have been undertaken to end hunger. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, the number of undernourished people has risen for a third consecutive year, from around 804 million in 2016 to nearly 821 million in 2017 – around one in nine people on the planet.…

Seminar in India Highlights The Importance of Neem for the Future of Humanity

In December of 2018 a two-day seminar titled “Neem – Eco Friendly Solution for Sustainable Development”, organized by the World Neem Organization, took place amidst a gathering of eminent personalities and neem scientists from across the globe. The seminar also marked the inauguration of the Second Edition of the Global Neem Trade Fair in Bengaluru, India. The purpose of this fair is to strengthen the neem industry in India and highlight the global benefits of neem, especially its potential as a solution to feeding the world sustainably.

Feeding a rapidly growing population is the ever-growing problem that the modern agricultural industry faces.…