Recent estimates of food demand, based on median projections of growth, call for a 50% increase in the global demand figure. Linearly proportional increases in the allocation of land and water resources towards increased food production are not realistic given the trends in competing uses for these resources. Besides, our natural resource base is already giving alarm signals for increased exploitation. The pandemic also revealed the vulnerabilities in our food value chains. The speaker will discuss the response options available to the policy makers, based on most recent figures about the state of the resources and the trends, and both the need and the opportunities for cooperation across sectoral and disciplinary boundaries.

Speaker: Dr Olcay

United Kingdom

<p><strong>Geography</strong></p> <p>The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK is an island off the west coast of Europe and has a total land area of 24.36 Mha. The country is divided roughly into two main areas: lowland Britain and highland Britain. Lowland Britain and most of Northern Ireland is less than 300 m above the sea level. This includes some 70,000 ha of prime farmland in eastern England which is below sea level.</p> <p><strong>Population and land use</strong></p> <p>The population is about 66.8 Million (Population Reference Bureau, 2019), with over 80% living in towns. For many centuries most of the land was owned as estates ranging in size from a few hundred hectares upwards and comprised farms of varying sizes let out to tenants ...Read more