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An interesting article in the Guardian published in May 2019 highlighted that the 7.6bio people on Earth only represent 0.01% of the total biomass on Earth, including vegetation (82%) and bacteria (13%). However, since the dawn of mankind, we have destroyed an estimated 83% of wild animals, and 50% of plants. Our destruction capacity is simply staggering. The reorganization of biomass today:l mammals on earth are composed of livestock (60%), humans (36%) and wild mammals (a sad 4%). Even more, wild birds (30%) are submerged by chickens and other poultry (70%). There is unfortunately not the slightest sign of a slow down since the World population will be reaching an estimated 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100.
To feed so many human beings, the FAO expects that the total demand for animal products in developing countries only is expected to more than double by 2030 as a result of growth in population and incomes and changes in dietary habits. There will of course be a correlated increase in the consumption of fodder and feedgrains, obviously detrimental to forests and other wild areas.
This is why at the Mangrove Foundation, we donate to projects that focus on sustainable agriculture and livestock farming.
At the same time, still according the the FAO, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted. Food losses and waste amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries.
Luxembourg based initiatives like Food4All is very good news, and we hope it will expand massively.