How does climate change affect and will affect food security? » Yale Climate Connection

A reader asked us:

How does climate change affect and will affect food security?

To answer this question, we enlisted the help of Dr. Luis Alexis Rodríguez Cruz, who works on issues related to agri-food systems, the environment, science, and public policy. Here is his response:

I will abandon the multidimensional definition food safety The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) answers how climate change affects (and will affect) climate change: “When all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs, Food security exists.

It is estimated that 29% of the global population is food insecure. Climate change is one of the determinants of that percentage. The changes we are experiencing, such as extreme events, exacerbate existing vulnerabilities such as poverty and inequality. These vulnerabilities, in turn, make it difficult to manage climate impacts, thereby affecting their food security.

The high temperatures we are experiencing now affect different aspects of food security. If we think about production, plants and animals are stressed by extreme heat, which reduces their performance and productivity. This also affects food processing and storage, as without refrigeration or preservation mechanisms, temperatures can shorten the shelf life of food and promote rapid spoilage. This can cause some fruits and vegetables to lose their nutritional value.

It is important to emphasize that the food we see in supermarkets is produced by humans. Many of them are smallholders and subsistence farmers, or immigrants who have suffered discrimination and disenfranchisement. Almost a third of the food on Earth is produced by small-scale farming families. These people and approximately a billion others also face rising temperatures and other impacts of climate change, which, combined with fragile conditions, affect their health and quality of life, reducing the time they have to produce food. Likewise, many people live in the Southern Hemisphere, which is experiencing an increase in extreme events such as droughts and stronger hurricanes.

We have a globalized agri-food system that relies on connectivity and supply chains. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes can affect supply chains that deliver food to island nations and countries that are highly dependent on imports. Therefore, climate change affects not only food production but also other aspects of food security, such as transportation.

Extreme events in your community may reduce your access to food sources and affect how you store and process food. We cannot ignore that everything is interconnected. For example, hurricanes can affect power systems and roads, which can affect food supplies, storage, and even home cooking.

It is therefore important to highlight that climate change is affecting (and will affect) everything related to how we produce, obtain, process, eat and discard food. That’s why it’s important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transform our agri-food system into one that is fairer and more sustainable for people and the environment.

There are many ways you can play a role in the process. First, try to buy from local farmers. When we buy and eat local fruits and vegetables, we reduce our carbon footprint. Plus, you support farmers so they can continue to provide food for their communities. Another way to reduce emissions is to compost food waste. Compost provides excellent nutrients for plants. If you don't have enough space to compost, sometimes local programs will collect your waste.