Food Security and Land Use: The Telecoupling Challenge

电信耦合联盟由四个重点国家(巴西、中国、英国和美国)、非洲易受影响的溢出国家、两个主要的CGIAR中心(CIAT和IFPRI)、粮农组织和利益攸关方的广泛参与组成。我们应用了一个创新的综合框架--远程耦合--远距离不同规模的人与自然系统之间的社会经济和环境相互作用--可以改变我们对国际贸易对粮食安全和土地利用动态的间接影响的看法。我们讨论主题3(反馈循环)，重点关注对粮食安全至关重要的主要大宗商品：大米、玉米、小麦、大豆、土豆、生物燃料作物(主要是甘蔗和玉米)和牲畜。我们将审查不同规模的进程，从主要粮食商品的国际贸易，到区域/地方规模的深入研究。该联盟的合作伙伴为该项目带来了涉及四大洲的大量粮食安全和土地利用项目，同时提供了一个亟需的框架，以解决粮食系统如何远距离变化的问题，并考虑到改变粮食生产、贸易和分配形式所产生的社会经济和环境后果。该小组包括社会科学和自然科学领域的知名学者以及相关部门的有影响力的利益攸关方。该项目的最终成果将是加强预测粮食流动和土地使用变化的影响的能力；促进政策变化以改善粮食安全，同时确保更可持续的环境的工具；加强主要粮食生产和消费国的主要研究和利益攸关方群体之间的合作；培训新一代警觉，最大限度地减少全球土地利用变化的负面影响。该项目将提供一个全面的框架、一个复杂的系统建模方法和一个基于网络的决策支持系统，以寻找在确保可持续地球的同时加强所有人的粮食安全的解决方案。

The Telecoupling Consortium, consists of four focal countries (Brazil, China, U.K. and U.S.), vulnerable spillover countries in Africa, two major CGIAR centers (CIAT and IFPRI) , FAO and extensive stakeholder involvement. We apply aninnovative integrative framework, Telecoupling - socioeconomic and environmental interactions among coupled human andnatural systems at different scales over great distances - that can transform how we think about collateral effects frominternational trade on food security and land use dynamics. We address Theme 3 (Feedback Loops), focusing on majorcommodities central to food security: rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, potato, biofuel crops (mainly sugarcane and corn) andlivestock. We will examine processes at different scales, from the international trade in major food commodities, to in-depthstudies at regional/local scales. The Consortium partners bring to this project a very large portfolio of food security and landuse projects, representing four continents, while providing a much needed framework to address how food systems changeacross large distances, and to account for socioeconomic and environmental consequences of shifting forms of foodproduction, trade and distribution. The team includes leading scholars in social and natural sciences as well as influentialstakeholders in relevant sectors. The end result of this project will be enhanced capacity to predict effects from shifts infood flows and land use; tools to facilitate policy changes to improve food security, while ensuring a more sustainableenvironment; increased cooperation among major research and stakeholder groups in major food production andconsuming countries; and training a new generation alert to minimizing negative consequences from changes in land useworldwide. The project will provide a comprehensive framework, a complex systems modeling approach and a Web-basedDecision Support System to finding solutions that enhance food security for all, while ensuring a sustainable earth.