



Plus encore pour nourrir convenablement 9 milliards au moins d’êtres humains en 2050, il faudra produire en quantité croissante une nourriture répondant à des normes de qualité exigeantes. Il faudra y parvenir en respectant mieux l’environnement. Il faudra en outre tenir compte qu’une partie des terres sera utilisée pour la production d’énergie et de biens industriels, ou le stockage de carbone et la protection de la biodiversité.
Allons-nous vers une crise alimentaire mondiale majeure ? Après plusieurs décennies d’insouciance, nos opinions publiques découvrent peu à peu l’ampleur du défi. Cela supposera d’innover, de réduire les pertes et les gaspillages, de diminuer les consommations alimentaires excessives et déséquilibrées et, simultanément de sortir de la pauvreté le milliard d’êtres humains qui souffrent aujourd’hui de la faim.
A ces immenses questions, aux scénarios envisageables pour leur apporter au niveau planétaire des réponses adaptées, des chercheurs du monde entier consacrent leur vie. Dans cet ouvrage, les responsables des deux principaux instituts agronomiques français, l’Inra et le Cirad, portent ces réflexions à la connaissance du grand public, en termes limpides. Le lecteur y trouvera d’innombrables informations, des éclairages saisissants et des propositions inattendues. Il est possible d’éviter un cataclysme, mais cela nécessitera de profonds changements, notamment dans nos habitudes de consommation et de production ici en Europe.
Contents / Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 - Setting the stage
Science enters the equation
A closer look at the issue
Why nine billion?
Food for all: two different scenarios
Agrimonde: the results
Les sons learned from the Agrimonde study: change is in order
2 - Eat well, eat better
Changes at the root of nutritional imbalances
Getting to the root of profound changes
Overnutrition and health
Taking action: a how to
3 - Reducing losses and waste at consumption, distribution and processing levels
The scope of the issue
Losses at different stages and technical solutions currently implemented
Change is in order
4 - Reducing post-harvest losses in developing nations
Har vest-related losses: a reality in developed nations as well
Why post-harvest losses in developing countries matter
The challenge of quantifying post-harvest losses
Despite difficulties in quantifying losses, one thing is clear:
post-harvest losses are significant
Post-harvest losses and when they occur
Next steps
Annex
5 - Producing other goods
What is biomass?
High expectations for energy
New possibilities for green chemistry
Meeting these new needs by choosing the right biomass
How these prospects change the hunger equation
6 - Managing ecosystem services
Agriculture and ecosystem services
Biodiversity’s key role in ecological regulating services
Using and managing ecosystem services
7 - Will there be enough land?
Agricultural land: a look at the current situation
The impact of climate change on agricultural production potential
Non-food uses for biomass: an excessive need for land?
Eco nomic, policy and social factors affecting land use conversion
8 - The need to strive for productive yet ecological agriculture
Optimised productivity of arable land
Environmental degradation
Increased, improved production: a realistic goal?
Intensive, capital-poor agriculture: the case of South-East Asia
Agricultural systems with productivity reserves
Is sub-Saharan agriculture in need of new development?
Thinking and acting globally
9 - Feeding the world starts with fighting poverty
Mapping hunger
The usual suspect: blaming malnutrition on a lack of available food
The link between food and poverty: common assumptions and misconceptions
Charting a course of action
10 - Towards a global governance of food
Re-examining the food riots
We must step back from agriculture in order to understand it
Diets: a factor of future need
Reinvesting in agriculture: an urgent necessity
Fighting poverty
Regulation: rules as a safety net
The need for global governance of food security as a “public good”
Dedicated agronomic research
Conclusion. Preventing catastrophe
References / Glossary


