CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTSPopulation Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
December, 1997 |
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imits and Constraints In poor countries particularly, but also elsewhere, limits on natural resources and poor agricultural practices make it difficult to meet food needs, both now and in the future (11, 31, 56, 97). Assuring food security over the long term depends on making agricultural production environmentally sustainable. Sustainable agriculture, as defined by FAO, means agriculture that conserves land, water, and plant and animal genetic resources, does not degrade the environment, and is economically viable and socially acceptable. Thus sustainable agriculture manages and uses natural resources to meet people's needs both now and in the future (99). In some countries, however, environmentally destructive farming and fishing practices and poor conservation and resource management are limiting the productivity of natural resources even as population growth demands more (13, 19, 42, 97). Because the costs of poor environmental practices are rarely taken into account, they are often given too little weight in policy decisions, point out Robert Costanza and colleagues in an assessment of the economic value of the ecosystem. If food production, water supply, and other ecosystem services continue to be undervalued and therefore overexploited, the impact on human welfare could become enormous, they warn (17). Among the most serious constraints to achieving sustainable agriculture and food security in the face of population growth are: shortages of arable land, degradation of land resources, loss of agricultural land due to urbanization, water shortages and pollution, irrigation problems, collapsing fisheries, disappearing genetic diversity, and climate change. |