Supporting 8 Billion People

Currently, there are 8 billion people that must be fed, but there are also billions of people who can be invited to find the solutions and answers to this challenge.

AFP/NOAH SEELAM

A vendor uses his mobile phone while waiting for the customers at a wholesale vegetable market in Hyderabad on May 19, 2022.

The human ability to overcome various difficulties and challenges in life has made it possible for the human population to reach 8 billion people. However, the Earth’s large population has raised concerns about the pressures that are placed on the environment for humans to meet their food needs.

This is a reasonable concern considering that supporting—and feeding 8 billion mouths—is not a simple matter. Moreover, massive human growth, which has increased eight times in just the last two centuries, has proven to have greatly reduced the carrying capacity of the environment, leading to environmental damage and climate change.