Will land loss lead to food shortages? Year 9 - Humanities
Jun 25, 2015
Will land loss lead to food shortages?
Year 9 - Humanities
Last Lesson
• What are the main causes of the growing water shortage?
• Food production. • Growth of urban and industrial demand. • Poor farming practices. • Over-extraction. • Poor management.
Learning Intentions (What you need to know and be able to do)
• Challenges to food production, including land and water degradation, shortage of fresh water, competing land uses, and climate change, for Australia and other areas of the world
Key Terms
• desertification • salinity• Biofuels• Jatropha• marginal • monoculture
Comparison of world population growth and arable land per capita
Land degradation
The main forms of land degradation are:• erosion by wind and water• salinity• pest invasion• loss of biodiversity• desertification.
Land degradation caused by deforestation in Madagascar
Growing fuel
• changing food crops to fuel crops, so less food is produced and crops have to be grown on marginal land rather than arable land
• increasing prices, which makes staple foods too expensive for people to purchase
• forcing disadvantaged groups, such as women and the landless poor, to compete against the might of the biofuel industry.
Growing Cites (Tehran 1985 – 2009)
Land grabs