Food Security and Land Use: The Telecoupling Challenge

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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.