How Will We Feed Everyone When the World Population Reaches 10 Billion?

September 13, 2016

Valentin Thurn presents his documentary 10 Billion: What’s on Your Plate? at the Liceo Francés in Santo Domingo during DREFF 2016

Santo Domingo – On Tuesday September 13, as part of the screenings for the 6th Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), the German documentary filmmaker Valentin Thurn presented his movie 10 Billion: What’s on Your Plate? at the Liceo Francés in Santo Domingo.

With the screening students learned about global production and distribution of organic and genetically modified foods. Thurn also invited the audience to become aware of how people can be fed with the impending growth in the global population.

Thurn explained that the documentary poses the question of where humans will get enough food for each person once the population reaches 10 billion.

The geographer-cum-filmmaker noted that his documentary, which took three years to make, brings together the experiences of organic farmers, scientists, speculators in the agriculture industry, creators of urban gardens, and commercial slaughterhouses.

The German documentary maker invited student viewers to raise their awareness about the food they eat.

The director of the Fundación Sabores Dominicanos, Bolívar Troncoso, lamented that despite the fact that the Dominican Republic comes in first place in Latin America for organic agriculture, it is not the final consumer of those products. “We are the number-one exporters of organic bananas, coffee, cacao, and coconut, but these products go to countries that know how to consume healthy foods.”

Delia Blanco, cultural coordinator of the Francophone Center at Funglode, spoke on behalf of DREFF and invited viewers to reflect on food production and distribution worldwide.

The student Gala Fernandez noted that what attracted her attention was how big food companies are the ones that decide what people eat, and in many cases it’s not the best choice for people’s health. “These companies are holding our eating habits in their hands, so we should break free and start growing our own foods,” she stated.

“In our country we have the possibility of organic cultivation in our cities by taking the examples of the countries shown in the film,” added the student Sylvia Le Rhun.

About DREFF
Since its creation in 2011, the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival has been providing Dominicans with a platform of knowledge and debate on the environment and sustainable development, as well as examples of best practices to achieve them, while celebrating the unique beauty and natural heritage of the Dominican Republic.

www.dreff.org / info@dreff.org
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