Korea Environmental Industries

Labex Korea – Achieving both economic growth and better quality of life is human kind’s longstanding aspiration. To that end, we need to tap natural resources in an environmentally sustainable manner and stop polluting environment in the process of consuming the resources.

Advanced nations have made a continuous effort and seen a significant progress in maximizing productivity of resources while realizing economic development that minimizes environmental pollution. They have sought ways to curb environmental degradation by inventing relevant technologies and nurturing industries.

The Ministry of Environmental and Korean Environmental Industry & Technology Institute prepared a book to introduce Korea’s competitive environmental enterprises and technologies to the world.

 

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Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: How To Produce More

The Poultry Site – The goal of sustainable intensification is to increase food production from existing farmland says the article in the journal’s Policy Forum.

Lead authors Dr Tara Garnett and Professor Charles Godfray, University of Oxford, say this would minimise the pressure on the environment in a world in which land, water, and energy are in short supply, highlighting that the environment is often overexploited and used unsustainably.

Native Breeds Can Help Create a Sustainable Livestock Industry

The Poultry Site – According to long-time supporter of rare breeds in the UK, Tim Brigstocke of Dr Tim Brigstocke Associates, by 2030, livestock systems in UK agriculture will have differentiated into one of three types. The first of these – accounting for the majority of the volume of animal products – is the high-output type, achieving high levels of technical and environmental efficiency with good welfare and animal health. The other two system types offer good opportunities for native animal breeds; one a low-input, moderate output extensive grazing systems for ruminants and the other based on niche products such as organic products, rare breeds and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

Plant-powered planes show promise

BBC – To the eye, there was nothing remarkable about the aging Falcon 20 jet as it took off from Ottawa International airport in Canada at the end of October in 2012. But the twin-engined, 10-seater plane was in the process of making aviation history.

After a short flight that saw it climb to 30,000 ft (9,000m) over the capital city, the plane touched back down at the airport to secure its world first.

Fairtrade Foundation report damns treatment of smallholder farmers

Tim Smedley
The Guardian – A Fairtrade Foundation report published today highlights the irreplaceable role of smallholder farmers in global food production, and calls on international business to reassess how it treats the most vulnerable in its supply chain.

The report, “Powering up smallholder farmers to make food fair”, draws on the Fairtrade Foundation’s experience of working with smallholders over 20 years across five main agricultural commodities: coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar and bananas.

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Source and Photo: The Guardian, 25th February, 2013
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Empowering smallholder farmers to create sustainable change – live discussion

By Jenny Purt

The Guardia – Do you ever look at where the products you buy come from or ponder over how they were made? Staple commodities such as coffee, tea and sugar all have a human story behind them, one involving hundreds of people across the world, that consumers are largely blinkered to.

Achieving the New Vision for Agriculture: New Models for Action

World Economic Forum – To feed 9 billion people by 2050, the world will need to adopt new strategies aimed at sustainably increasing agricultural production. Meeting this challenge will require significant increases in investment, innovation and collaboration among all stakeholders.The World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture serves as a platform to build collaboration among stakeholders to achieve a vision of agriculture as a driver of food security, environmental sustainability and economic opportunity.

In the past three years, governments, business, farmers and civil society organizations have embraced and begun to implement this vision at global, regional and country levels.This report outlines the progress to date of partnerships catalysed by the New Vision for Agriculture, and the key challenges and next steps that must be addressed to realize the full potential of the multistakeholder partnership

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Will biotechnology provide food security?

World Economic Forum – According to David Lawrence, biotechnology, like all technologies, is not in itself good or bad. It’s what we do with it that decides
The way we human beings behave can be strange. For at least 30 years I used to give talks which included a slide showing how population increase was reducing the land available to feed an individual, pointing out that unless we changed something, at some point we would run the risk of not being able to feed everyone on the planet. Every few years I would update it, and while the trends continued as predicted, no one seemed to want to pay any attention. Historic stocks were depleted, the rich ate more, and more people fell into hunger.

Why a fair supply chain is key to achieving a sustainable food system

By Michael Gidney
The Guardian – The on-going horsemeat scandal highlights just how dangerously out of control many global food supply chains are. It’s out of control for consumers in rich countries who now throw away an amount of food equivalent to what sub-Saharan Africa produces in a year, and are losing as many life years from obesity as the poor are from malnutrition. It’s out of control in the way food is traded and distributed, with millions of producers struggling for market access in increasingly concentrated commodity markets, with high price volatility exacerbated by financial speculation. And, most critically for the mission of organisations like Fairtrade, it’s out of control for smallholder farmers themselves, who, despite producing more than 70% of the world’s food, scandalously still represent more than half of the world’s hungriest people.

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Source and Photo: The Guardian,February, 2013
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Recycled wood: the truly green key to a sustainable built environment

By Leon Kaye
The Guardian – Home building has long been one of the most important industries in the US, with economists viewing statistics concerning new homes as a barometer for the country’s economic performance.

Americans’ affinity for newer and bigger homes, however, comes with a huge environmental cost. The recent foreclosure crisis is just a reminder of all the resources waste on millions of homes that have been abandoned and, yet again, remodelled. One precious resource used for these buildings that often goes unnoticed and is then lost forever is wood…. >>continue<<

Source and Photo: The Guardian, July 24th, 2012
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