Climate change and food security

Rajbir Saha

(rajbirsaha1995@gmail.com)

Climate change has added to the enormity of food security challenges. The relationship between climate change and food security is complex, it finds that ensuring food security in the face of climate change will be a formidable challenge and recommends, among others, the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, greater emphasis on urban food security and public health, provision of livelihood security, and long-term relief measures in the event of natural disasters. The World Food Summit in 1996 defined food security thus: "Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. According to this definition, there are three main dimensions to food security: food availability, access to food, and food absorption. Thus, adequate food production alone is not a sufficient condition for a country's food security. It impacts crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and can cause grave social and economic consequences in the form of reduced incomes, eroded livelihoods, trade disruption and adverse health impacts. However, it is important to note that the net impact of climate change depends not only on the extent of the climatic shock but also on the underlying vulnerabilities. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (2016), both biophysical and social vulnerabilities determine the net impact of climate change on food security.

About 108 million people living in 48 countries at risk of food crises were highly vulnerable or already experiencing acute food insecurity in 2016. Climate change reduces agricultural production and increases food insecurity due to abnormal precipitation and temperature changes. The impact of climate on agriculture is region-specific mainly. Extreme climate events such as floods, cyclones, and droughts are common, which have serious impacts on the livelihoods of vulnerable populations. The effects of climate variability may have indirect effects on fertility through food production. Food insecurity leads to a range of demographic impacts, including but is not limited to changes in infertility. Reducing human fertility–a means of controlling population growth–may be one way to cope with inadequate food supply.

Agriculture is not only a source of food but also a source of income for the majority of the population. Therefore, the critical point for food security is not whether food is available in sufficient quantity but the monetary and non-monetary resources at the disposal of the population that are su?cient to allow everyone access to adequate quantities of quality food. Climate change will a?ect all four dimensions of food security such as food availability or food production, access to food, stability of food supplies, and food utilization (FAO, 2006). About 2 billion out of the global population of over 7 billion is food insecure because they fall short of one or several of FAOs dimensions of food security. However, the overall impact of climate change on food security di?ers from region to region and over time, and also on the overall socio-economic conditions of the population. The increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change such as drought, higher temperatures, or heavy rainfalls have an impact on the disease pressure, and there is growing evidence that these extreme changes a?ect food safety and food security. The report also emphasizes that increases in mean daily temperatures will increase the frequency of food poisoning, particularly in temperate regions. Rising temperatures are reported to be strongly associated with increased incidences of diarrheal disease in adults and children. Similarly, extreme rainfall events can increase the risk of outbreaks of water-borne diseases, particularly where traditional water management systems are insu?cient to handle the climate extremes. The impacts of heavy precipitations and ?ooding will be felt more strongly in environmentally degraded areas and where sanitation and hygiene are lacking. All these events will raise the number of people exposed to di?erent diseases and thus lower their capacity to utilize food e?ciently. Wheeler and Braun from Walker Institute for Climate System Research, Department of Agriculture, University of Reading and Centre for Development Research, Department of Economic and Technical Change, University of Bonn respectively, in their research paper, proposed six general rules on the impact of climate change on food security and actions to address hunger: 1) Climate change impacts on food security will be worst in countries already su?ering high levels of hunger and will worsen over time. 2) The consequences for global undernutrition and malnutrition of doing nothing in response to climate change are potentially large and will increase over time. 3) Food inequalities will increase, from local to global levels, because the degree of climate change and the extent of its e?ects on people will di?er from one part of the world to another, from one community to the next, and between rural and urban areas. 4) People and communities who are vulnerable to the e?ects of extreme weather now will become more vulnerable in the future and less resilient to climate shocks. 5) There is a commitment to climate change of 20 to 30 years into the future as a result of past emissions of greenhouse gases that necessitates immediate adaptation actions to address global food insecurity over the next two to three decades. 6) Extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent in the future and will increase risks and uncertainties within the global food system.

All of these general rules support the need for considerable investment in adaptation and mitigation actions to prevent the adverse impacts of climate change on food security and eradicate global hunger and undernutrition.