Proceedings of the 2012 Parliamentary Conference, with Sir John Beddington; Professor Jonathon Foley; Dr Derek Byerlee; Dr Frank Rijsberman and others

Global rates of deforestation and forest degradation continue at persistently high levels, although annual net rates of forest loss have slowed to approximately 8 Mha as the extent of planted forests increases. Drivers of deforestation vary geographically. Conversion to both large- and...

Who feeds the world? Two billion small-scale farmers who in addition to feeding themselves also produce surpluses for local markets — these are the food producers for a global population. Domestic markets along with the food consumed by the producers’ families constitute more than 70% of the...

There is no doubt of the increasing risk from new and emerging diseases and that such diseases have the potential for profound implications for all sectors of society. The emergence of entirely new diseases such as SARS is usually the result of changes in the way that we do things and is often...

Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources across the planet. Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a...

Biosecurity is the management of risks to the economy, the environment and the community of pests and diseases entering, emerging, establishing or spreading. In Australia, biosecurity services are delivered by government and industry in partnership with farmers and the wider community as a...

ASEAN is host to seven of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. Failure of governments and their peoples to protect and conserve the region’s rich biodiversity is one of the greatest threats to the over 500 million people of ASEAN. As in other areas of the developing world, biodiversity...

Global agriculture is struggling to keep pace with increasing demands for food as human population increases and food preferences alter. Changes in temperature, greenhouse gas concentrations, precipitation patterns and radiation further challenge farmers. Insect and nematode pests, plant...

A couple of months ago a journalist from a magazine asked me to name the five most important or influential books in my life. I had to start off with a little book called Zeek the Rabbit which hooked me on reading when I was about seven or eight years old, and that left me four more slots. One...