Delivering food security without increasing pressure on land Pete Smith

The challenge of feeding 9 to 10 Billion people by 2050 may seem like a big enough challenge in itself, but we also need to achieve this feat whilst, at the same time, reducing adverse impacts of food production on a whole range of ecosystem services. One suggested response is "sustainable intensification" which entails delivering safer, nutritious food from the same area whilst maintaining ecosystem service provision. In this review, I examine sustainable intensification and consider alternatives such as management of food demand and waste reduction. I conclude that sustainable intensification has a role to play, but this must be accompanied by fundamental change in global food systems. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.