Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation by PNAS, Guardian News   Mar. 2025   Researchers say problem could increase number of people at risk of starvation by 400 million in next two decades, highlights Damian Carrington.   The pollution of the planet by microplastics is significantly cutting food supplies by damaging the ability of plants to photosynthesise, according to a new assessment.   The analysis estimates that between 4% and 14% of the world’s staple crops of wheat, rice and maize is being lost due to the pervasive particles. It could get even worse, the scientists said, as more microplastics pour into the environment.   Over 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2022. The researchers estimated that microplastic pollution could increase the number at risk of starvation by another 400 million in the next two decades, calling that an “alarming scenario” for global food security.   Other scientists called the research useful and timely but cautioned that this first attempt to quantify the impact of microplastics on food production would need to be confirmed and refined by further data-gathering and research.   The annual crop losses caused by microplastics could be of a similar scale to those caused by the climate crisis in recent decades, the researchers behind the new research said. The world is already facing a challenge to produce sufficient food sustainably, with the global population expected to rise to 10 billion by around 2058.   Microplastics are broken down from the vast quantities of waste dumped into the environment. They hinder plants from harnessing sunlight to grow in multiple ways, from damaging soils to carrying toxic chemicals. The particles have infiltrated the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.   “Humanity has been striving to increase food production to feed an ever-growing population but these ongoing efforts are now being jeopardised by plastic pollution,” said the researchers, led by Prof Huan Zhong, at Nanjing University in China. “The findings underscore the urgency of cutting pollution to safeguard global food supplies in the face of the growing plastic crisis.”   People’s bodies are already widely contaminated by microplastics, consumed through food and water. They have been found in blood, brains, breast milk, placentas and bone marrow. The impact on human health has been linked to strokes and heart attacks.   Prof Denis Murphy, at the University of South Wales, said: “This analysis is valuable and timely in reminding us of the dangers of microplastic pollution and the urgency of addressing the issue..”   The new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combined more than 3,000 observations of the impact of microplastics on plants, taken from 157 studies.   Previous research has indicated that microplastics can damage plants in multiple ways. The polluting particles can block sunlight reaching leaves and damage the soils on which the plants depend. When taken up by plants, microplastics can block nutrient and water channels, induce unstable molecules that harm cells and release toxic chemicals, which can reduce the level of the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll.   The researchers estimated that microplastics reduced the photosynthesis of terrestrial plants by about 12% and by about 7% in marine algae, which are at the base of the ocean food web. They then extrapolated this data to calculate the reduction in the growth of wheat, rice and maize and in the production of fish and seafood.   Asia was hardest hit by estimated crop losses, with reductions in all three of between 54m and 177m tonnes a year, about half the global losses. Wheat in Europe was also hit hard as was maize in the United States. Other regions, such as South America and Africa, grow less of these crops but have much less data on microplastic contamination.   In the oceans, where microplastics can coat algae, the loss of fish and seafood was estimated at between 1m and 24m tonnes a year, about 7% of the total and enough protein to feed tens of millions of people.   The scientists also used a second method to assess the impact of microplastics on food production, based on current data on microplastic pollution levels. It produced similar results, they said.   “Importantly, these adverse effects are highly likely to extend from food security to planetary health,” Zhong and his colleagues said. Reduced photosynthesis due to microplastics may be also cutting the amount of climate-heating CO2 taken from the atmosphere by the huge phytoplankton blooms in the Earth’s oceans and unbalancing other ecosystems.   The world’s nations failed to reach an agreement on a UN treaty to curb plastic pollution in December, but will restart the talks in August. The scientists said their study was “important and timely for the ongoing negotiations and the development of action plans and targets”.   Prof Richard Thompson, at the University of Plymouth said the new study added to the evidence pointing towards the need for action. “While the predictions may be refined as new data become available, it is clear … that we need to start towards solutions. Ensuring the treaty addresses microplastic pollution is of key importance,” he said.   http://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2423957122 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/microplastics-hinder-plant-photosynthesis-study-finds-threatening-millions-with-starvation
	Only politics can end world hunger by Jennifer Clapp IPES Food   Feb. 2025   Massive political efforts are needed to tackle the causes of hunger – conflict, poverty, and inequality. Without confronting power, the harvest will never reach the hungry. IPES-Food statement on food access.   History has shown us again and again that, so long as inequality goes unchecked, no amount of technology can ensure people are well fed.   Today, we produce more food per person than ever before. Yet hunger and malnutrition persist in every corner of the globe – even, and increasingly, in some of its wealthiest countries.   The major drivers of food insecurity are well known: conflict, poverty, inequality, economic shocks, and escalating climate change. In other words, the causes of hunger are fundamentally political and economic.   The urgency of the hunger crisis has prompted 150 Nobel and World Food Price laureates to call for “moonshot” technological innovations to boost food production. However, they largely ignored hunger’s root causes – and the need to confront powerful actors and make courageous political choices.   Food is misallocated   To focus almost exclusively on promoting agricultural technologies to ramp up food production would be to repeat the mistakes of the past.   The Green Revolution of the 1960s brought impressive advances in crop yields (at considerable environmental cost). But it failed to eliminate hunger, because it didn’t address inequality.   Take Iowa, home to some of the most industrialized food production on the planet. Amid its high-tech corn and soy farms, 11% of the state’s population, and one in six of its children, struggle to access food.   The world already produces more than enough food to feed everyone. Yet it is shamefully misallocated. Selling food to poor people at affordable prices simply isn’t as profitable for giant food corporations.   They make far more by exporting it for animal feed (a wildly inefficient way to nourish people), blending it into biofuels for cars, or turning it into industrial products and ultra-processed foods. To make matters worse, a third of all food is simply wasted.   Meanwhile, as the laureates remind us, shamefully, over 700 million people (9% of the world’s population) remain chronically undernourished, and a staggering 2.3 billion people – over one in four – cannot access an adequate diet.   Confronting inequality   Measures to address world hunger must start with its known causes and proven policies. Brazil’s Without Hunger program, for example, has seen dramatic 85% reductions in severe hunger in just 18 months, through financial assistance, school meals, and minimum wage policies.   Our politicians must confront and reverse gross inequities in wealth, power, and access to land. Hunger disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalized, not because food is scarce, but because people lack the purchasing power to access it, or resources to produce it for themselves. Redistribution policies aren’t optional, they’re essential.   Governments must put a stop to the use of hunger as a weapon of war. The worst hunger hotspots are conflict zones, as seen in Gaza and Sudan, where violence drives famine.   Too many governments have looked the other way on starvation tactics – promoting emergency aid to pick up the pieces, instead of taking action to end the conflicts driving hunger.   Stronger antitrust and competition policies are vital to curb extreme corporate concentration in global food chains – from seeds and agrochemicals to grain trading, meat packing and retail – which allows firms to fix prices and wield outsized political influence.   Governments must break the stranglehold of inequitable trade rules and export patterns that trap the poorest regions in dependency on food imports, leaving them vulnerable to shocks. Instead, supporting local and territorial markets is critical to build resilience to economic and supply chain disruptions. These markets provide livelihoods and help ensure diverse, nutritious foods reach those who need them.   The role of agroecology   Mitigating and adapting to climate change requires massive investments in transformative approaches that promote resilience and sustainability in food systems.   Agroecology is a key solution proven to sequester carbon, build resilience to climate shocks, and reduce dependence on expensive and environmentally damaging synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. More research should explore its full potential.   And we must adopt plant-rich, local and seasonal diets, ramp up measures to tackle food waste, and reconsider using food crops for biofuels. This means pushing back against Big Meat and biofuel lobbies, while investing in climate-resilient food systems.   This is not to say that technology has no role – all hands need to be on deck. The innovations most worth pursuing are those that genuinely support more equitable and sustainable food systems, and not corporate profits. But unless scientific efforts are matched by policies that confront power and prioritize equity over profit, then hunger is likely to stay.   The solutions to hunger are neither new nor beyond reach – what’s missing is the political will to address its root causes. Hunger persists because we allow injustice to endure. If we are serious about ending it, we need bold political action, not just scientific breakthroughs.   * Jennifer Clapp is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability, and Member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, University of Waterloo.   http://ipes-food.org/only-politics-can-end-world-hunger/ http://ipes-food.org/the-global-food-crisis-in-the-age-of-catastrophe/ http://ipes-food.org/land-grabs-squeeze-rural-poor-worldwide/ http://ipes-food.org/land-squeeze-the-battle-underfoot-for-africas-soils/ http://ipes-food.org/report/land-squeeze/ http://www.landcoalition.org/en/uneven-ground/shocking-state-land-inequality-world/   Jan. 2025   The right to food, finance and national action plans - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri   In the report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 43/11, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, provides a way to develop national right-to-food action plans within existing budgets that can transform food systems and progressively realize the right to food. In the light of the global debt crisis, high inflation and high food prices, many countries are faced with the impossible choice of either feeding people or servicing debt.   Using public funds to ensure that people have access to adequate food can cause a Government to fall into arrears, worsening financial shocks; servicing debt instead leads to more hunger and malnutrition. This means that the current international system of finance resolutely impedes the ability of Governments to meet their obligations with regard to the right to food. In the report, the Special Rapporteur suggests how significant improvements in food systems – and the conditions for transformation – could be achieved by redesigning public budgets.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5848-right-food-finance-and-national-action-plans-report-special http://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/48 Visit the related web page
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