ECOLOGICAL SECURITY VS. FOOD SECURITY

Abstract

This article attempts to indicate the relationship between some of the most important issues concerning the global population, namely ecological factors and food security. While “exploiting” the Earth, man has violated its natural cycle and, in many respects, pushed many ecological systems to the ultimate environmental threshold. Today, due to the industrial use of the natural environment, its shaping and protection is subject of numerous discussions. If a given ecosystem has been degraded, it is the task of humankind to restore it. Bioethicists investigate how deep this interference could be when modifying the world of fauna and flora. Often, however, those simple farming methods, already known and used in medieval agriculture, are sufficient. The aim of the study is to explore the opinions of young inhabitants of Podkarpacie (also known as Subcarpathian Province) on food security assessed through the prism of ecological security issues in the context of a total ban on cod fishing in the Baltic Sea. The ban was introduced for four years from January 2020 and, while the initiative may contribute to the renewal of the cod population, it is highly restrictive and covers about 150 fishing vessels, the owners of which have no other income.