Eat, drink; flourish

©Peter-Lüthi_Biovision_Research_icipe_DSCN0236

how can we keep feeding and providing water to a swelling global population?

We have developed into a civilisation of consumers. Over the past century, or probably even longer, everything we know about ourselves stems from our consumption. We buy, we sell, and round and round it goes. And there is no exception when it comes to the bare necessity for our survival: food and water.

But as our populations grow and our planet becomes exhausted of our endless need for more, it is time we begin to understand that things cannot continue the way they are forever. Water is becoming scarce, as is produce and the land it grows on. It is time we begin to change our production and consumption habits, as it can no longer be 'business as usual' when our land is dying, our biodiversity dwindling, and our civilisation starving.

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The good

Indoor farming could help save us and our planet

Innovative new ways of farming might just be one of our biggest saviours. Thanks to technology, vegetables can now be grown in the most hostile of environments, including the desert, underwater and even inside the supermarket itself. Energy-efficient LED grow lights, robots and IoT vertical farms (which use up considerably less space) are working to massively reduce the water, land and energy currently used to grow our staple vegetables.

The sheer volume of deforestation for single-crop land is a major global issue, and indoor farming (and lab-grown meat, but that's another story), is an innovation we should all stand behind – as strange as it seems to eat supermarket-grown lettuce.

If we are to feed our world and save our planet at the same time, innovative farming and gardening solutions are the way forward.

The bad

Deforestation is destroying our ecosystem and the precious communities who call these lands their home

In our strive to turn more land into a place to grow our crops, while also digging for oil, South America's Amazon is bearing the grunt, with the communities living on its lands affected the most.

To date, it is estimated that 20 percent of the precious jungle land has been deforested, and we continue at the rate we are experience right now, more than 50 percent of the Amazon is set to be damaged or lost by 2020 – that is a mere one year's time.

To help protect the Amazon, support Amazon Watch, who make it its mission to protect the land as well as the people who inhabit it.

Support Amazon Watch in protecting the rainforest and its indigenous peoples

by Yair Oded

Amazon Watch partner with local indigenous and environmental organizations to protect the rainforest and promote human and land rights of local tribes.

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In case you missed it

	Almond Farms Keep Moving on Water Conservation California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, generating $11 billion annually for the state’s economy. Richard Waycott of the Almond Board of California explains what the industry is doing to use less water and stretch every drop. Read

	The ticking bomb of water scarcity in India by Shadi Khan Saif India is 3rd largest groundwater exporter, but 21 cities are running out of water by next year! Read

	West Africa cocoa pricing model should inspire an end to child labour by Bob Koigi Ghana and Ivory Coast’s move to set a minimum price for cocoa beans could help reduce child labour, though it will not be enough on its own. Read

Country focus

Brazil

Brazil is the largest spanning country South America, and shares a border with the 10 out of 12 nations who make up the continent. With a population of 208 million people, Brazil is one of the world's largest democracies. With a geographic area that spans half the length of the continent and fluctuates between jungle, forests, beaches and agricultural grounds, Brazil's population is as diverse as its lands.

Since the early 2000s, the country has gone through massive economic growth, becoming the most powerful nation in South America and taking 29 million people out of poverty by 2014 as inequality drastically declined. It is known for its vast share of the Amazon, and must now step up to the challenge of protecting this precious land.

Much like many nations across the world, Brazil is also experiencing its own rise of the far-right, with its recently elected President Jair Bolsonaro, who is advocating many conservative and draconian policies.

All stories about Brazil

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