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Sustainable table: the coming famine

This is a website about the key issues related to global food insecurity. It contains sections on the scarcity of primary resources; land degradation; land scarcity; waste; climate change; consequences of inaction; and proposed solutions. Photographs, statistics, graphs, maps and figures support the information. This resource ...

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Farmers, their animals and the environment

This is a video about the valuable genetic diversity of Asia's indigenous domesticated animals; the contribution the animals' genes make to local people's food security; and the results of the use of genetic technologies. The video identifies ever-present links between farmers, their animals and the environment by describing ...

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Water reservoirs as climate change adaptation

This is a video about water availability for people living in the Peruvian Andes. It includes vision and information about water scarcity in this region and details of a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations funded project involving the creation of a sustainable water management program. The program involves ...

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Food security and global farming

The expected growth in world population from 6.8 billion in 2010 to over 9 billion by 2050, the demand for food will increase by around 70 per cent. This collection of articles from the CSIRO describes some of the research that is underway to improve the world's agriculture sector to address this growing demand. The web ...

Interactive

Chicken farming in the living world: Stage 5

Chickens are fascinating animals and provide students with an interesting subject matter to discuss the many aspects of our living world. This interactive course for students explores the question 'How does the closed system of a chicken meat farm model the interactions, flow of energy and the cycling of matter through ...

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TEDMED: What is the source of all life?

This is a video clip of a TEDMED speaker, Howard Shapiro, presenting ideas about improving the nutritional value of plants to address malnutrition and the food requirements of a growing world population. The clip emphasises that poor nutrition has negative health and developmental effects on children, particularly those ...

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Upholding cassava's potential in Africa

This is a video about the importance of cassava for food security in Africa and how the Regional Cassava Initiative supported small-scale farmers whose crops were affected by viral diseases. Plant virologist James Legg explains the extent of the problem and how the viruses are transmitted, and Burundi farmer Aoron Sebomana ...

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Gaps and opportunities for perennial crops

This is a video about the scientific breeding of perennial crops as described at a 2013 workshop, 'Perennial crops for food security', held by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). After giving the big picture regarding perennial crop research, the 16-minute video focuses on the breeding of perennial wheat and its ...

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Sustainable table: meet your meat

This is a website about the environmental and animal welfare issues related to the consumption of meat. It contains sections on the amount of meat we eat; the environmental impacts of consuming meat; cattle, chicken, egg-laying-hen and pig-farming factories; and what can be done to improve the current state of the meat ...

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Cotton Australia fact sheets

This library provides a series of one to two page fact sheets on a range of topics related to the Australian cotton industry including: an overview of the industry, history of the cotton industry in Australia and in the world; economics of Australian cotton; biotechnology; climate challenges and cotton; properties of cotton ...

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Catalyst: What are modular farms?

Modular farms are flexible and self-contained systems that allow you to grow herbs and vegetables without the need for soil or sunlight. What are some advantages of modular farms? What may be some of the disadvantages?

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Catalyst: Growing avocados

Demand for certain kinds of food changes with time as people's tastes change. Avocados were not always popular, but in recent years their popularity has increased so much that supply cannot keep up with demand. Learn how stem cell scientists at the University of Queensland are leading the way in research that could cut ...

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Catalyst: How will fire change the climate?

Considering the impact of a changing climate on the severity and frequency of fires is one thing, but how about the impact of fires on climate? Why does Professor David Bowman describe this scenario as a 'fire spiral'? What are the consequences of a world with fewer forests? As Professor Craig Allen explains, drought and ...

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Understanding the causes of climate change

Did you know that climate change is not a recent phenomenon? In the past, natural events led to changes in the climate. Although natural events still affect climate, they're not enough to explain the big changes we've been seeing in the last 150 years. What changes on earth can account for such dramatic changes to our climate? ...

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Catalyst: Would you eat insects?

A lot of resources go into the production of beef. For example, 20 litres of water is needed to produce just 1 gram of beef. In order to produce food more sustainably to feed an ever-growing population, some alternatives to protein have been suggested. What are some of these alternatives? Do you think they will ever replace meat?

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Catalyst: Sustainable fish farming

There are already more people around the world who eat farmed fish than people who eat beef. With the world's population and demand for food increasing, why is it so important for us to farm sustainably? One fishery near Kakadu in the Northern Territory practises sustainable farming. Find out what makes this farm so sustainable.

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What Greenland's ice tells us about climate change

Why is it so important to keep our eyes on Greenland's ice and what does it have to do with climate change science? Watch this short animation from NASA to find out!

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Towards food security in Afghanistan

This is a video about the progress towards food and water security in Afghanistan. It includes images and information about how the global economic crisis has affected the people of Afghanistan; the value of investment in agriculture production to reduce poverty in this region; and a water security project that is jointly ...

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Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing

This is a video of a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk by Professor Marla Spivak about the dramatic decline in the number of bees. The 16-minute video begins with a discussion of why humans should care about bees, including their critical importance for the world's food supply. Professor Spivak explains that ...

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TEDMED: Are we ready for a Declaration of Food Interdependence?

This is a video clip of TEDMED speaker Ashley Atkinson describing a community program that promotes growing food together to transform the environment and to address issues of declining access to affordable, fresh produce. The video focuses on how the program, Keep Growing Detroit, provides resources to assist in the establishment ...