The Future Prospects of Ecosystem on the Earth: Problems of Growing World Population and Feeding

Abstract

The world population is predicted to reach 10 billion up to 2050. It is urgent to estimate the potential feeding capacity on the earth. The current study, using vegetation map by satellite data, concluded that available farm areas support at most 10 billion people who consume the average amount of the world wide food consumption. So it is crucial to raise the efficiency of food production as a function of growing population. However, the consequence of the uncontrolled food supply causes the never recoverable damage of our ecosystem. New technologies, such as biotechnology, soil managements, energy-saving technologies, and utilization of outer-space, are keys to solve the problems. In addition to developing new technologies, we should pay much attention to economical rules which balance ecology and social systems.