Executive summary: The post examines the link between famines and societal collapse, attributing this to the fragility of food systems, the self-reinforcing nature of famines, and the difficulty in defending against them.
Key points:
The food system’s reliance on multiple societal aspects like a stable climate, adequate supply of fertilizers and pesticides, and efficient transportation infrastructure makes it susceptible to various disruptive events, contributing to the occurrence of famines.
Avin et al.’s (2018) framework classifies global catastrophes based on the critical societal systems they interact with, identifying the food system as one of the most impacted.
Charalampopoulos & Droulia’s (2021) study on historical famines illustrates the self-reinforcing nature of famines, where a triggering event can initiate a cycle of reduced food production, population loss, and increased instances of famine.
The post highlights the difficulties in defending against famines due to the quantity of food humans consume, the perishability of food, and the limited global food supplies.
While food storage can contribute to food security, it is not a complete solution to larger catastrophes due to the high cost and challenges in maintaining large food reserves.
The post underscores the importance of trade in food security and warns against the potential collapse of the global food trade network due to food export bans by key exporting nations.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The post examines the link between famines and societal collapse, attributing this to the fragility of food systems, the self-reinforcing nature of famines, and the difficulty in defending against them.
Key points:
The food system’s reliance on multiple societal aspects like a stable climate, adequate supply of fertilizers and pesticides, and efficient transportation infrastructure makes it susceptible to various disruptive events, contributing to the occurrence of famines.
Avin et al.’s (2018) framework classifies global catastrophes based on the critical societal systems they interact with, identifying the food system as one of the most impacted.
Charalampopoulos & Droulia’s (2021) study on historical famines illustrates the self-reinforcing nature of famines, where a triggering event can initiate a cycle of reduced food production, population loss, and increased instances of famine.
The post highlights the difficulties in defending against famines due to the quantity of food humans consume, the perishability of food, and the limited global food supplies.
While food storage can contribute to food security, it is not a complete solution to larger catastrophes due to the high cost and challenges in maintaining large food reserves.
The post underscores the importance of trade in food security and warns against the potential collapse of the global food trade network due to food export bans by key exporting nations.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.