How Plantations International’s Sustainable Agricultural Practices Benefit the Environment: We recognize that climate change is a serious issue that demands attention and action from the business community. Plantations International has set performance targets, and will continue to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both direct and indirect business operations. We are committed to conducting our operations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and to engaging with industry and public stakeholders to develop responsible standards and voluntary initiatives that support this policy.
There will be 9.6 billion people in the world by 2050, that will require more than 70% more crops than we have today. This combined with a reduction in arable land and the effects of climate change will result in sector over-performance. Agriculture has outperformed most asset classes throughout history, particularly on a risk basis when considering volatility. The NCREIF Index which is the world’s agriculture benchmark has yielded an annual return of 13.69% since 2000 with a standard deviation of only 7.58%. This far outperforms equities, real estate, bond and other asset classes. Performance is expected to improve further over the next decade due to strong demand supply fundamentals.
Food along with water and air is essential for human life. High levels of food security are necessary for human existence but is also imperative to global and country specific economic growth, stability and prosperity. For example, countries with poor level of food security often face chronic malnutrition which provides limitations in human capital development, which is required to achieve economic growth. Food security ought to be a priority for all countries, whether developing or developed. Although low levels of food security are commonly associated with poverty stricken countries they are also found in affluent developed countries as well. Food security rankings despite providing a decent gauge of performance are not without limitations. For example, some of wealthiest countries logically fare well in overall rankings as they have the capability and infrastructure to provide accessible, healthy food to their populations. Yet these high rankings dangerously mask their poor natural resources and resilience rank which measures food import dependency to a small degree. This raises the question, how can a country be food secure when they can be highly dependent on others for their food supply?
With offices, plantations, and representatives across Asia, Europe, and Africa, Plantations International is a multinational plantation and farm management company that specializes in providing sustainable agricultural and forestry or “agroforestry” management services for its clients. Plantations International has clients ranging from private individuals to large landholders and corporate investors. We put teamwork, innovation, and our passion for creating “Ethical & Sustainable Capital” at the heart of everything we do.
Population Growth: Today, about 2/3 of the world’s population lives in Asia, a figure dominated by India and China. Regionally by 2100, Africa and Asia will be home to 4.4 and 4.9 billion people respectively, and together will account for 83% of the world’s population. More than half of global population growth between now and 2050 will occur in Africa, which will add 1.3 billion people. The United States is expected to be the fastest growing developed country, ranking 6th in total population growth. The U.S should have an additional 67 million people by 2050. Rising population will place significant stress on existing resources raising the need for not only increased production but more efficient productivity based on existing resources. Food wastage’s carbon footprint is estimated at 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2. Developing countries suffer more food losses during agricultural production, while in middle- and high-income regions, food waste at the retail and consumer level tends to be higher.
Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can even trap more heat than CO2. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (which have been banned in much of the world because they also degrade the ozone layer), have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much warmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does. In order to understand the effects of all the gases together, Plantations International scientists tend to talk about all greenhouse gases in terms of the equivalent amount of CO2. Since 1990, yearly emissions have gone up by about 6 billion metric tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent” worldwide, more than a 20% increase. Plantations International is already seeing some of these changes occurring more quickly than they had expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eleven of the twelve hottest years since thermometer readings became available occurred between 1995 and 2006.