Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth

by Lloyd T. Evans

• ISBN13: 9780521646857
• ISBN10: 0521646855
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

At the current rate of increase, the world's population is likely to reach ten billion by the middle of the twenty-first century. What will be the challenges posed by feeding this population and how can they be addressed? Written to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Malthus' seminal Essay on the Principle of Population, this fascinating book looks at the intimate links between population growth and agricultural innovation over the past 10,000 years, illustrating how the evolution of agriculture has both shaped and been shaped by the course of world population growth. This historical context serves to illuminate our present position and to aid understanding of possible future paths to food security for the planet. This volume is a unique and accessible account that will be of interest to a wide audience concerned with global population, food supply, agricultural development, environmental degradation and resource depletion.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: timebomb or treadmill?

2. Reaching five million (to 8000 BC)

3. Towards fifty million (8000 BC-2000 BC)

4. The first half billion (2000 BC-1500 AD)

5. The first billion (1500-1825)

6. The second billion (1825-1927)

7. The third billion (1927-1960)

8. The fourth billion (1960-1975)

9. The fifth billion (1975-1986)

10. The sixth billion (1986-1998)

11. What the world eats now

12. Feeding the ten billion

Epilogue

References

Acronyms and abbreviations

Index.