LESTER R. BROWNTough ChoicesFacing the Challenge of Food ScarcityFood scarcity may soon become the dominant consequence of continuing population growth and environmental mismanagement. The president of the Worldwatch Institute assesses the situation in a provocative book published for the World Food Conference to be held in Rome in November. The worlds leaders are slowly coming to realize what the worlds farmers have known for some time: world grain production is lagging behind population because of the failure of additional fertilizer to boost yields as it once did, the diversion of irrigation water from farms to cities, and the loss of cropland to industrial and residential uses. As world grain production has lagged during the 1990s, estimated carryover stocks of grain for 1996 have dropped to 48 days of world consumption--the lowest level ever. Here, Lester Brown uses up-to-the-minute information to respond to the widening gap between world demand for grain and lagging yields of oceanic fisheries and croplands. He proposes steps that can be taken to expand food production and buy additional time to stabilize population, and he also explores opportunities for reducing per-capita consumption which in some societies is conspicuously excessive. Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute, lives in Washington, D.C. 1996 / paperback original / ISBN 0-393-31573-8 / Figures / 160 pages / science/environment | |||||
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