Current projections suggest that an additional 120 million ha – an area twice the size of France or one-third that of India – will be needed to support the traditional growth in food production by 2030, mainly in developing countries (FAO, 2003), without considering the compensation required for certain losses. The demand for irrigated land is projected to increase by 56% in Sub- Saharan Afr..

Thousand million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year (1970-2004 period)

Although coastal ecosystems are already among the most valuable on the planet, the current estimates of the economic value for some of the oceans blue carbon sinks are surprisingly low. How should human perception of these important ecosystems change as we learn of the vast benefits of maintaining healthy coasts and oceans?

Food security is likely to remain out of reach for many people. Child malnutrition will be difficult to eradicate even by 2050 (low to medium certainty) and is projected to increase in some regions in some Millennium Assessment scenarios, despite increasing food supply under all four scenarios (medium to high certainty) and more diversified diets in poor countries (low to medium certainty).

2050. Global climate change has already contributed to rising temperatures in the Amazon which, when combined with deforestation, have led to a cycle of lower precipitation and a greater frequency of droughts. Researchers at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research say that the Amazon could reach a tipping point – the point at which deforestation and climate change combine to trigger s..

Gregory, R. 2009. “Data for European common farmland birds”. January 14, 2009, personal e-mail (January 14, 2009)

L'augmentation de la production de cultures agricoles a principalement été fonction de l'accroissement du rendement dû à une utilisation accrue d'engrais et de systèmes d’irrigation. Cependant, cette situation pourrait se réorienter dans le futur vers une approche reposant davantage sur l’expansion des terres cultivées, aux dépens de la diversité biologique

The temperature regime of sub-sea permafrost is determined by the annual temperature of the surrounding seawater, just like the thermal regime of terrestrial permafrost is determined by the arctic surface temperature.