Annual Meeting

AAG Theme: Geographies of Bread and Water in the 21st Century

February 24, 2017

Burgeoning global population along with increasing appetite for high-protein or resource demanding food choices may double demands on world agriculture by 2050. At the same time groundwater depletion and climate change are negatively impacting the availability of sufficient water to meet agricultural and domestic freshwater demands in many regions. Compounding these challenges are socioeconomic forces, including armed conflicts and state collapse that negatively affect agricultural productivity, food transference and water resources. The challenges to food and water security over the 21st century represent an increasing and potentially existential threat to global society. These issues are fundamentally geographical in nature and form a central research and educational focus of geography and the AAG special theme.

The AAG Opening Presidential Plenary: Bread and Water in the 21st Century will anchor this featured theme. Speakers in this opening plenary session will be AAG President Glen M. MacDonald (UCLA), Ruth DeFries (Columbia University) and Peter Gleick (Pacific Institute). Discussants will be Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern (Syracuse University) and William G. Moseley (Macalaster College).

Glen M. MacDonald, Ruth DeFries, Peter Gleick, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, William G. Moseley

Other special events related to this theme will include:

Panel on the Pedagogy of Karl W. Butzer from Bonn, to Madison, Chicago, Zurich, and Austin chaired by Samantha Krause and Moulay Anwar Sounny-Slitine; Friday, April 7, from 1:20 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Physical Geography Poster Sessions: Check out hundreds of posters featuring research in physical geography. Session I is on Friday, April 7, from 1:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Session II is on Saturday, April 8th, from 8:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. Note that the Physical Geography Reception/Happy Hour will take place during the latter half of Poster Session I, on Friday, April 7, from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m in the same area (Second Floor of the Hynes Convention Center, Hall C).

To find many additional sessions on this featured theme, consult the AAG website for a full list.