By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will live on the planet. Can we produce enough food sustainably? The synthesis report of the World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that it is possible – but there is no silver bullet. This report offers a five-course menu of solutions to ensure we can feed everyone without increasing emissions, fueling deforestation or exacerbating poverty. Learn more at http://www.wri.org/sustfoodfuture

1. #SUSTFOODFUTURE
WRI.ORG/SUSTFOODFUTURE
WORLD RESOURCES REPORT
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE
FOOD FUTURE

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PARTNERS

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MANY THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
• The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The Danish International Development Agency
• The Swedish International Development Agency

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5. WORLD NEEDS TO CLOSE A FOOD GAP OF 56 PERCENT BY 2050
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

6. WORLD NEEDS TO CLOSE AN EMISSIONS MITIGATION GAP OF 11 GT BY 2050
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

7. WORLD NEEDS TO CLOSE A LAND GAP OF 593 MILLION
HECTARES TO AVOID FURTHER AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

8. AGRICULTURE EMISSIONS LIKELY TO BE 70 PERCENT OF TOTAL
ALLOWABLE EMISSIONS FOR ALL SECTORS BY 2050
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

9. wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future
Course 1: Reduce Growth in
Demand for Food and Other
Agricultural Products
• Reduce food loss and waste
• Shift to healthier and more
sustainable diets
• Avoid competition from bioenergy
for food crops and land
• Achieve replacement-level fertility
rates
Course 2: Increase food
production without expanding
agricultural land
• Increase livestock and pasture
productivity
• Improve crop breeding to boost yields
• Improve soil and water management
• Plant existing cropland more
frequently
• Adapt to climate change
Course 3: Protect and restore
natural ecosystems and limit
agricultural land-shifting
• Link productivity gains with
protection of natural ecosystems
• Limit inevitable cropland
expansion to lands with low
environmental opportunity costs
• Reforest abandoned,
unproductive, and liberated
agricultural lands
• Conserve and restore peatlands
Course 4: Increase fish supply
• Improve wild fisheries
management
• Improve productivity and
environmental performance of
aquaculture
Course 5: Reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
from agricultural
production
• Reduce enteric fermentation
through new technologies
• Reduce emissions through
improved manure
management
• Reduce emissions from
manure left on pasture
• Reduce emissions from
fertilizers by increasing
nitrogen use efficiency
• Adopt emissions-reducing rice
management and varieties
• Increase agricultural energy
efficiency and shift to
nonfossil energy sources
• Focus on realistic options to
sequester carbon in soils

10. FOOD LOSS AND WASTE OCCURS CLOSER TO THE CONSUMER
IN DEVELOPED REGIONS AND TO THE FARM IN DEVELOPING
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

11. ANIMAL-BASED FOODS ARE
MORE RESOURCE-INTENSIVE
THAN PLANT-BASED FOODS
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

12. LIMITING CONSUMPTION OF RUMINANT MEAT TO 52 CALORIES PER
PERSON PER DAY IN ALL REGIONS REDUCES GHG GAP BY HALF AND
NEARLY CLOSES THE LAND GAP
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

13. IF WORLD’S ENTIRE HARVEST OF CROPS, CROP RESIDUES, GRASSES
AND WOOD IN 2000 WERE USED FOR BIOENERGY, IT WOULD PROVIDE
ONLY 20 PERCENT OF ENERGY NEEDS IN 2050
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

14. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA HAS WORLD’S LOWEST PERFORMANCE IN KEY
INDICATORS OF TOTAL FERTILITY RATE, WOMEN’S EDUCATION AND
CHILD MORTALITY
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

15. IMPROVEMENTS IN CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTIVITY ALREADY BUILT
INTO 2050 BASELINE CLOSE MAJORITY OF THE LAND & GHG GAPS THAT
WOULD OTHERWISE EXIST WITHOUT PRODUCTIVITY GAINS AFTER 2010
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

16. INEFFICIENT BEEF PRODUCTION RESULTS IN FAR HIGHER GHG
EMISSIONS PER UNIT OF MEAT OUTPUT
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

17. CLIMATE CHANGE COULD SHORTEN
GROWING SEASONS IN MUCH OF
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA BY MORE
THAN 20 PERCENT BY 2100
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

18. GROSS FOREST LOSSES ARE FAR GREATER THAN NET FOREST
LOSSES BECAUSE AGRICULTURE LANDS ARE SHIFTING
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

19. SCREENING OUT LANDS THAT DO NOT MEET ENVIRONMENTAL,
ECONOMIC AND LEGAL CRITERIA REDUCES THE AREA OF LAND
SUITABLE FOR OIL PALM EXPANSION IN KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

20. GHG EMISSIONS FROM DRAINED PEATLANDS ARE ONGOING IN
INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

21. PERCENTAGE OF OVERFISHED STOCKS HAS RISEN OVER PAST
40 YEARS
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

22. AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION MUST CONTINUE TO GROW TO
MEET WORLD FISH DEMAND
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

23. ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION EMISSIONS REACH 9
GIGATONS IN 2050 BASELINE PROJECTION
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

24. MORE EFFICIENT MILK PRODUCTION REDUCES GHG EMISSIONS
DRAMATICALLY
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

25. PERCENTAGE OF APPLIED NITROGEN THAT IS ABSORBED BY
CROPS VARIES WIDELY ACROSS THE WORLD
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

26. SOILS IN AFRICA ARE RELATIVELY LOW IN ORGANIC CARBON
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

27. UNDER ‘BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES’ SCENARIO, AMOUNT
OF ADDITIONAL FOOD NEEDED IN 2050 COULD BE CUT BY HALF
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

28. UNDER ‘BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES’ SCENARIO, AREA OF LAND
NEEDED FOR AGRICULTURE COULD SHRINK BY 800 MILLION HECTARES
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

29. UNDER THE BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES SCENARIO, AGRICULTURAL GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS WOULD FALL DRAMATICALLY BUT REFORESTATION AND PEATLAND RESTORATION
WOULD BE NECESSARY TO MEET THE TARGET OF 4 GIGATONS PER YEAR
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

30. WORLD’S LEADING AGRICULTURE PRODUCERS PROVIDED
NEARLY $600B IN PUBLIC FUNDING TO SUPPORT FARMS IN 2015
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

31. WHY GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTIONS FROM BIOENERGY
REQUIRE ADDITIONAL BIOMASS
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

32. FIND OUT MORE
wri.org/sustfoodfuture | World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future
WORLD RESOURCES REPORT
Creating a Sustainable Food Future
www.wri.org/sustfoodfuture