[Thematic Repot] Food and its Environment in India

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[Thematic Repot] Food and its Environment in India
by Ishitwa - \| 22-12-2019 02:50 0
Food is the most essential component for our survival. Food chain in general terms is a sequence of who eats whom in the biological community to obtain nutrition. Generally, the food chain starts with the primary source as sun. It further links plants and chemosynthetic bacteria that make their own food also known as primary producers or autotrophs with animals that eat these autotrophs, known as herbivores and further it links herbivore to carnivore, which are responsible in consuming the herbivores. There are numerous food chains that connect to form food webs. While food consumption is essentially connected to the environment, food production is also a highly environment driven sector. Food production is a major driver of environmental change. India's rapid population growth and ever-changing food habits put the sustainability of food production under massive pressure. It places pressure on agriculture, water availability and health impacts too. In the recent past, many studies have suggested that adapting to a healthy diet could improve the population health and alongside reduce environmental footprint of food production. Shifting to healthy guidelines nationally required a minor increase in dietary energy (3%), with larger increases in fruit (18%) and vegetable (72%) intake, though baseline proportion of dietary energy from fat and protein was adequate and did not change significantly. Meeting healthy guidelines slightly increased environmental footprints by about 3–5% across GHG emissions, blue and green WFs, and LU. [1] To bring about food sustainability, studies have researched the impact of paradigm shift of food consumption in India on greenhouse gases (GHG) , blue & green water footprints (WFs) and land use(LU). India faces a huge challenge of high rates of undernutrition. It implies a huge pressure on the environment to produce food. A shift to healthier diets may lead to small increments in environmental footprints. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412018314417 [2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(18)30113-X/fulltext [3] https://india.mongabay.com/2019/01/dietary-diversity-behaviour-change-in-indians-key-to-better-health-and-environment/

Dormant user Ishitwa -

6 Comments

Lisa Mentor says :
Hello Ishitwa!
This is your mentor Lisa.

I think you have a really nice article based on the situations that your country is facing.
For my country Korea, since the population growth has been steady (closer to decreasing) recently and for it is relatively economically stable, I have always thought that agricultural activities are not much of a threat to the environment but rather the diet habit of people.
And here, you present a very different point of view!
It's so interesting how the food is affecting the environment depends on the different situations that different countries face.

I really like your report dear:)
It's insightful and it makes us realize once again that environmental issues cannot be managed with one single solution!

Posted 27-12-2019 19:33

Shishir Dahal says :
Hello Ishitwa, I really enjoyed with your words above. Its the concern of entire world. Keep doing researches. God Bless You !!
Posted 24-12-2019 00:50

Kushal Naharki

Kushal Naharki says :
Hello Ishitwa

I do hope that you are fine and doing great with your works.
Thank you for your report about Food and its Environment in India

Green Cheers from Nepal :)
Keep writing great reports.
We are eager to read more reports from you.

Regards,
Kushal Naharki

Posted 23-12-2019 21:27

Hyeongmin Mentor says :
Hello Ishitwa

I can see that food production as well as food consumption can largely accelerates climate change. Transition to sustainable eating habit is necessary and along with it, some technological improvements have to be made so food production can be improved without negatively impacting the environment.

Thank you for the great report.
Posted 23-12-2019 15:10