FEATURE
Biomin’s
World Nutrition Forum
"Meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability for future generations to meet their own needs" - Prof Marty Matlock, University of Arkansas, USA
"
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ou have in front of you a depressed man with a smiling face," Professor Jorgen Randers of BI Norwegian Business School told the 800-plus delegates attending this year's Biomin World Nutrition Conference in Munich, Germany this morning in his keynote address. Dr Randers as professor of climate strategy addressed the question of '2052 - A global forecast for the next 40 years' went on to say, "I have spent the last 40 years working for sustainable development, working for a sustainable world and I have failed. "The world is less sustainable today than I started my hard labours on sustainable development 40 years ago. The simplest way of indicating this is by the climate situation. "The simplest way to demonstrate this is that every year humanity is producing twice as much CO2 as is being absorbed by the earth.
The remainder stays in the atmosphere with a half-life of more than 100 years and as this concentration goes up the temperature goes up. This will continue until we stop emitting CO2 into the atmosphere. "A highly unsustainable situation where dramatic change is needed if we want to move in the direction of sustainability. With a projected world population of eight billion by 2040, he pointed to three factors that will impact the development of the world as it progresses over the next 40 years would see world populations increases being to decline as the trend by women to have less children continue below the 1.8 in both the developed and developing world. The second major impact on countries will be the overall decline in GDP which will slow down as populations progressively move from the land to factories and then into health care - or caring for the elderly.
"Economic development is shifting towards health care as clearly shown in the USA, Switzerland and other developed countries." He said 17 percent of the USA's working population is already in the health care sector and probably more were needed. "Productively increases based on output per person is lower in these areas." Over 800 top minds from academia, business and the NGO sectors gathered in Munich to discuss the future of animal production and ‘sustain:ability’ at the Biomin-sponsored World Nutrition Forum 2014 in Munich.
Professor Randers says that the GDP growth rate in these countries will probably be zero percent over the next 40 years while poorer countries will see growth in primary and secondary employment as they continue
28 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | November-December 2014