How to Address Climate Change with Better Food Systems

Jan 18, 2022 | Eugene Willemsen
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It comes as no surprise that climate change directly affects the future of security. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation clearly outlines the role that the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather-related disasters, such as droughts, cyclones and wildfires play in multiplying threats for the low-income demographic, particularly the undernourished.Combined with the global pandemic and ongoing regional conflict, climate change has devastating effects on food production and availability. Aside from reducing crop yields, among the most significant of its effects is the havoc it wreaks on quality and nutritional value, stability of food systems, water availability, livelihoods and access to food.According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C of heating, averaged over the next 20 years. As temperatures increase, crop yields for the world’s most essential crops, which provide over 66 per cent of the world’s calories, will decrease.