Events
Diversitas OSC2, Cape Town (South Africa)
Diversitas OSC2, Cape Town (South Africa)
Diversitas OSC2, Cape Town (South Africa)
Diversitas OSC2, Cape Town (South Africa)
'Taxonomy, Systematics and Conservation Biology'
Professor Lord Robert May of Oxford, past President of the Royal Society.
We are currently facing a food security crisis. Today, an estimated 852 million people worldwide are going hungry, while 2 billion do not have a regular, secure source of food due to the poverty they face (source: FAO).
By 2050 it is estimated we will need to grow double the amount of food to feed the world’s people, as population growth and changing food preferences increase pressures on land and water availability. This will need to be achieved against a backdrop of climate change which will exacerbate water shortages, reduce crop yields and create new pests and disease threats. And in the quest for new energy sources to power the world it is likely that biofuels will compete for space with agricultural crops.
Agriculture - on a large and small-scale - is central to food security and is struggling to keep pace with these escalating food demands. But with vision, commitment and co-ordination, the world can meet the challenges associated with food security by growing more and losing less of what it already grows.
We are currently facing a food security crisis. Today, an estimated 852 million people worldwide are going hungry, while 2 billion do not have a regular, secure source of food due to the poverty they face (source: FAO).
By 2050 it is estimated we will need to grow double the amount of food to feed the world’s people, as population growth and changing food preferences increase pressures on land and water availability. This will need to be achieved against a backdrop of climate change which will exacerbate water shortages, reduce crop yields and create new pests and disease threats. And in the quest for new energy sources to power the world it is likely that biofuels will compete for space with agricultural crops.
Agriculture - on a large and small-scale - is central to food security and is struggling to keep pace with these escalating food demands. But with vision, commitment and co-ordination, the world can meet the challenges associated with food security by growing more and losing less of what it already grows.
We are currently facing a food security crisis. Today, an estimated 852 million people worldwide are going hungry, while 2 billion do not have a regular, secure source of food due to the poverty they face (source: FAO).
By 2050 it is estimated we will need to grow double the amount of food to feed the world’s people, as population growth and changing food preferences increase pressures on land and water availability. This will need to be achieved against a backdrop of climate change which will exacerbate water shortages, reduce crop yields and create new pests and disease threats. And in the quest for new energy sources to power the world it is likely that biofuels will compete for space with agricultural crops.
Agriculture - on a large and small-scale - is central to food security and is struggling to keep pace with these escalating food demands. But with vision, commitment and co-ordination, the world can meet the challenges associated with food security by growing more and losing less of what it already grows.
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Botanical Club will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's
birth and the 150th anniversary of *On The Origin of Species* with a symposium on plants and evolution. *Darwin and Botany in a Changing
World:150 Years after The Origin of Species* will feature talks on the historical and philosophical implications of evolution and current
research on plant evolution.
Speakers include James Lennox, science historian from the University of Pittsburgh; Karl Niklas, evolutionary biologist from Cornell University;
and Tatyana Livshultz, curator of botany at the Academy.
Registration is $10; $5 for students and members of the Academy and Botanical Club.
For more information and to register, please visit http://www.ansp.org/activities/darwin-botany.php
'Out of Sight, Out of Mind: our lives depend on the hidden kingdom – Fungi'
Professor Lynne Boddy, President of the British Mycological Society
Control of Illegal Use of Endangered Species and Incorrectly Identified Species'
Professor Monique Simmonds, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
