World Food Crisis: Energy and Pests

Overpopulation threatens the ability of the world to feed itself. This year the world population will reach 4 billion humans and by 2000, the population is expected to reach 7 billion (Fig. 1). Present world population levels are resulting in food shortages. In the past, acute food shortages have occurred in isolated regions of the world, but at no time in history have these shortages been of worldwide magnitude. Today an estimated ½ billion humans are malnourished and hungry (UN 1974, USDA 1974).