APEC Dialogue discusses food security, blue economy

At the end of the nineteenth century, the health and productivity of the livestock and poultry industries and the safety of foods of animal origin in the United States were severely compromised by infectious diseases.

In the countries of the developing world, infectious diseases of animals and humans remain prevalent and pose serious threats to a globalized society, in which the health status of animals in one nation is directly linked to the health status of animal and human populations throughout the world.

The problems and their solutions are immensely complex and difficult and extend well beyond the challenges of controlling infectious diseases.

As a result, those involved in the food industry, and especially veterinarians, face the question, "Is it possible to feed a burgeoning world population while respecting the welfare of livestock and poultry, containing the spread of disease, and managing the Earth's natural resources?"

In recent years, the ERS International Food Security Assessments have estimated that between 500 and 700 million people in the 76 countries studied are food insecure.

The estimate for 2015 is 475 million food-insecure people (food-insecure people are those consuming less than the nutritional target of about 2,100 calories per day).

food security conditions vary from year to year because of changes in local food production and the financial capacity of countries to purchase food in global markets.

The global food system today is beset by serious challenges and risks: production and prices have become more volatile; hunger and poverty levels remain high, particularly among farming communities; and unsustainable practices exacerbate environmental challenges.

By 2050, the world’s population will have risen to 9 billion. Feeding this population will require substantial changes to ensure the production, distribution and consumption of sufficient nutritious and sustainably produced food.

The key success factors of agriculture-sector transformation at the national level include setting the right direction through effective leadership,
strategy and investment models, and scaling the transformation through finance, infrastructure, institutions and monitoring.

APEC should have discussed the East Sea issues beacause countries can not develop their economies if security, peace and stability in the region is not guaranteed.

Philippines wanted China to attend the APEC summit, so it avoided those issues