Grazie, prof

Maria Cristina Rulli del PoliMi e Paolo D’Odorico dell’univ. Virginia pubblicano in open access sulle Environmental Research Letters uno studio sui land grabs:

Here we use a unique dataset of land deals to provide a global quantitative assessment of the rates of crop and food appropriation potentially associated with LSLAs. We show how up to 300–550 million people could be fed by crops grown in the acquired land, should these investments in agriculture improve crop production and close the yield gap. In contrast, about 190–370 million people could be supported by this land without closing of the yield gap. These numbers raise some concern because the food produced in the acquired land is typically exported to other regions, while the target countries exhibit high levels of malnourishment. Conversely, if used for domestic consumption, the crops harvested in the acquired land could ensure food security to the local populations.

La figura 3 riassume il problema:

Number of people who could be fed by the acquired land in the case of ‘balanced diet’, assuming a 50% biofuel use for oil palm and sugarcane, and considering different yield gap closure scenarios. (Calculations are based on land deals data as reported by Land Matrix 2013 dataset, accessed on 20 June 2013).

Lo riassume  in base ai dati disponibili, ma dove le Ong – Action Aid, per es. – non riescono ad arrivare –  in Cina, per es.  – sono incompleti o inesistenti:

This analysis has been carried out considering only the land deals for which the location, crop type and regional yield are available.

Stiamo cercando di colmare i buchi, prof, nel frattempo quell’analisi ci sarà molto utile.

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Mini-digest del venerdì: su Science, inserto dedicato al “boom del gas da scisti”.