10 November 2014 Senior CABI invasive species expert, Dr Arne Witt, will be speaking at the Economists Feeding the World conference in 2015. Dr Witt will concentrate on the impact that Invasive Alien Species (IAS) microbes, insects and plants introduced to new regions, through human activities have on food security and livelihoods.
The introduction of non-native species, many of which subsequently become invasive, poses a threat to farmers in the developed and developing worlds alike. Introduced to new regions with no natural enemies to control them, invasives can overrun vast areas of productive pastureland, infest crops, poison livestock, harm people and, in some cases, force people from their land. At Feeding the World 2015, Dr Witt will talk about natural solutions to managing invasives, like biocontrol.
Dr Witt writes more about fighting IAS to safeguard food security in the Economist Insights blog today.
This is the third year that CABI has been invited to speak at The Economists Feeding the World conference. With the Millennium Development Goals set to be reached by the end of next year there is much talk of what they have achieved, where they have failed and what the subsequent Sustainable Development Goals should seek to address. The issues of hunger and poverty remain prevalent and the need to tackle their causes and exacerbating factors is becoming more urgent every day.
Feeding the World 2015 will examine the implications of tremendous increase in food demand and changing food patterns, as well as the measures that need to be taken to achieve food and nutrition security.
From human factors such as supply chains, nutrition and food waste, to geographical and environmental influences like climate change and water supply, expert speakers from across the globe will unpick this complex topic.
For more information, go to: http://www.economistinsights.com/sustainability-resources/event/feeding-world-2015
Photo: Dr Arne Witt talks to a Maasai herder about the problems that the invasive cactus, Opuntia stricta, causes his livestock – Laikipia, Kenya
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