Would the Eden project work in places of famine to cultivate crops?

Question

Would the Eden project work in places of famine to cultivate crops?

Answer 1

is that not part of its concept?

Answer 2

There seems to b a little bit of confusion on your question due to the fact that there several projects called Eden. The one sited here is all about restoring land in famine areas to production again.

http://www.eden-foundation.org/project/i...

Answer 3

The Eden Project is more geared toward display of different biomes on the planet. The problem of famine in different places is caused from high populations in areas that can not support the population because of war (displacement in haste with limited logistical support of food and shelter as a minimum), the environmental issues of an area that prevent farming (climate changes and rapid population increases due to increased birth rate and population movement), or both. There are other things that lead to famine but the main reasons are listed above. War seems more often than not to be the leading problem and that seems precipitated by unrest due to stress of a population, frequently poor, hungry people at odds with a changing controlling government and all the implications of that. The environment will itself cause drought or flood or storm damage without unrest but that frequently will destabilize an area and make recovery much slower but there will be recovery after a time. Large displaced populations do not have the ready availability of equipment to farm a spot and even if possible to do so and overcome problems that initially effect the beginnings of farming (setting up a facility(s) and infrastructure), there still is the matter of time to get a harvest. The dome is a good form from an engineering standpoint for a great many things but it makes a poor greenhouse from a production standpoint. It is not space conscious, does not heat or cool efficiently (though the air mass it contains does minimize rapid and extreme fluctuations it is more costly to control), and is not always the best choice for it's purpose in many (most) areas in the world. Greenhouse production would never be a solution to famine issues due to cost, time to set up a facility and get a harvest, the type of food required to keep large populations fed, and then the long term facility maintenance. It is too costly for huge populations and that which keeps those people from farming the land will also keep a greenhouse from being an alternative, especially in light of cost as the main reason. Without water it is not going to work, too hot needs power and/ or water to cool it, and too cold needs huge amounts of fuel to warm it even with a good solar power system. Less fuel means more costly and sophisticated equipment.

If one had a population in famine that was not displaced, what needs to be addressed is the reason the environment will not support them. Desertification will require a water source, pumps and irrigation, but frequently that will not solve the issue of saline, sandy soils which are virtually unusable. Areas that are prone to flooding are so because in general it is an annual affair, and followed by extreme periods of no rain. Crops are chosen for that kind of climate (rice?)and the extremes that cause damage and famine are not events that happen yearly but occasionally. Unfortunately we are seeing patterns now that indicate more of these problems more often due to climate change. Storms and weather extremes are becoming more numerous for many reasons. Time will frequently heal the famine caused from isolated climate events and just need to be addressed in the short term by fast shipments of food from emergency storage.

The world population and governments are working to stabilize governments and contain areas of fighting to minimize the effects on the common person. That in turn will keep displacement of population down. The world as a whole also aids those that have been hurt by unforeseen environmental issues that create food shortage. The only way to do that is to ship food as rapidly as possible. We can be grateful to those groups, like C.A.R.E.

Answer 4

About the Eden Foundation

The Eden Foundation underpins everything we do.

While keeping a close eye on the integrity of the overall Project, it explores ideas, develops projects, education programmes and creative and interpretation programmes that marry art, science and technology. It is the crucible in which we explore approaches, make new alliances and dare to experiment and ask the big, difficult questions.

The Foundation is the public face of Eden, directing the broader scientific, research and education programmes that further Eden's mission and helping to define the philosophy and direction of Eden.

I explored their website, and I saw nothing that indicated that they were in research, discovery, and education in their community.  I saw nothing on the website about famine, or cultivating crops.  There are, however, other organizations doing that (eg. http://www.africare.org/about/about.html...