Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Fast Company, Adele Peters looks at 22 different solutions proposed to feed the world by 2050 and slash emissions from agriculture.

· What factors contribute to world hunger and starvation and how can philanthropy address it? Is this 22-part plan a realistic way to end world hunger?

· Read more about this topic and WRI’s new sustainable menu.

By the middle of the century, as the human population jumps up by another two billion and incomes rise globally, the world will need to grow 50% more food than it did in 2010. At the same time, we need to cut emissions to almost nothing, and agriculture is already a large source of emissions. Reconciling both needs is a massive challenge. A new reportlooks at what might happen if business continues as usual—and shares a list of 22 things that can happen to tackle the problem, from cutting food waste and improving plant breeding to reducing emissions from cows.

“The basic message is that there is a path to get where we need to be,” says Richard Waite, an associate in the food program at the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit that spent six years researching and writing the 568-page report along with the World Bank, UN Environment, the UN Development Programme, and the French research agencies CIRAD and INRA. By implementing a long list of solutions in combination, it’s technically possible to cut emissions by two-thirds—even as 50% more food is added to the global food supply.

Success isn’t guaranteed: The researchers calculated that if farming continues as usual, we’ll end up clearing an area of forests roughly twice the size of India to produce enough food. Total emissions from agriculture and changing land use would grow 70% from today. To stay under two degrees of global warming, let alone 1.5 degrees, forests have to stay in place. “Business as usual puts the goals of the Paris Agreement out of reach,” says Waite.

Read the full article about feeding the world by 2050 by Adele Peters at Fast Company.