International Encyclopedia of Human Geography - Global Food Security

Over the course of the last decade, several estimates have been given of the number of food-insecure individuals across the globe, topping out at approximately one billion people. These people experience food insecurity or its more visceral equivalent, hunger, while there is enough food on this planet to feed each one of them, despite Malthusian claims to the contrary. Confronting the full scope of global food insecurity in a holistic and sustainable manner remains a pressing and contested issue. Numerous scientific and technological solutions, such as those of the Green and Gene Revolutions, have been proposed to increase food supply. Proposed avenues include the promotion of local, place-based production and distribution strategies to address food insecurity at a variety of scales noting that holistic approaches and collaboration are needed to confront the various aspects of food insecurity including emerging issues, particularly climate change.