The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Environment
Environment
FSI scholars approach their research on the environment from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Center on Food Security and the Environment weighs the connection between climate change and agriculture; the impact of biofuel expansion on land and food supply; how to increase crop yields without expanding agricultural lands; and the trends in aquaculture. FSE’s research spans the globe – from the potential of smallholder irrigation to reduce hunger and improve development in sub-Saharan Africa to the devastation of drought on Iowa farms. David Lobell, a senior fellow at FSI and a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, has looked at the impacts of increasing wheat and corn crops in Africa, South Asia, Mexico and the United States; and has studied the effects of extreme heat on the world’s staple crops.
Scholarly Publications
Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico
July 2018
Linkages between climate and mental health are often theorized, but remain poorly quantified.
Anticipated burden and mitigation of carbon-dioxide-induced nutritional deficiencies and related diseases: A simulation modeling study
July 2018
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are anticipated to decrease the zinc and iron concentrations of crops.
Robust relationship between air quality and infant mortality in Africa
June 2018
Poor air quality is thought to be an important mortality risk factor globally1,2,3, but there is little direct evidence from the developing world on how mortality risk varies with changing exposure...
Other Publications
Data Science for Food Security
August 2017
Using agricultural and economic characteristics in African nations as test cases, new research by David Lobell and Marshall Burke demonstrates the use of satellite data to address the long-standing...
The Global Economic Impacts of Climate Change
November 2015
This research brief is based on a paper from the journal Nature, published on-line on October 21, 2015, entitled “Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production.” The paper, led by...
News
Saving the world’s food and water supplies with Ertharin Cousin
August 2018
The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University is pleased to announce that former U.S.
Stanford researchers find warming temperatures could increase suicide rates across the U.S. and Mexico
July 2018
Suicide rates are likely to rise as the earth warms, according to new research published July 23 in Nature Climate Change. The study, led by Stanford economist Marshall Burke, finds that projected...
David Lobell Named Gloria and Richard Kushel Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment
July 2018
The Center on Food Security and the Environment (FSE) is pleased to announce Professor David B.
Events
Projects
Interdisciplinary Research on Introducing Heat-Tolerant Wheat to Bolster Food Security
The project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions...
English
Analyzing the role of subsidies in growing the Kenyan aquaculture sector
Food insecurity remains a critical issue across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In certain parts of the region, fish is sometimes the most accessible or affordable source of animal protein.
English
Multimedia
Interview with Ertharin Cousin
May 2018
Ertharin Cousin, FSE visiting fellow, sat down with FSE Deputy Director David Lobell prior to her Payne Distinguished Lecture "Food Insecurity: A 21st Century Threat to Global Security and Stability."
Interview with Quentin Grafton
March 2018
Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, visited FSE to speak about "Insights from the Global Food and Water Nexus." He sat...
Interview: Pamela Ronald
January 2017
Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis.
People
George Azzari Research Scholar Research scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science, and Stanford Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence Lab 
