Food security refers to a condition in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life – (World Food Summit 1996). Food security is measured with regards to its production and availability; access to it; stability in its supplies; and food utilization.
Climate change has been defined in different ways, but I have adopted ‘a long-term alteration in global weather patterns, especially increase in temperature and storm activity, regarded as a potential consequence of the greenhouse effect’.
According to a research conducted by the Global Perspective Studies Unit of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2007, Climate change affects all four dimensions of food security mentioned above. Its impacts as extracted from the report are below:
- Food Production and Availability: Climate change affects agriculture and food production directly by changing agro-ecological conditions through (i) changes in temperature associated with continued emission of greenhouse gases which brings about changes in land suitability and crop yields; (ii) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations which will have positive effect on any crop, yet the nutritional quality of the agricultural produce may not increase in line with the higher yields. Indirectly, climate change affect food production and availability through growth and distribution of incomes, and thus demand for agricultural produce
- Access to Food: Over the last 30 years, falling real prices for food and rising real incomes have led to substantial improvements in access to food in many developing countries. Increased purchasing power has allowed a growing number of people to purchase not only more food but also more nutritious food with more protein, micronutrients, and vitamins. At the regional level, the importance of agriculture as a source of income can be much more important. In these regions, the economic output from agriculture itself (over and above subsistence food production) will be an important contributor to food security. The strongest impact of climate change on the economic output of agriculture is expected for sub-Saharan Africa, which means that the poorest and already most food-insecure region is also expected to suffer the largest contraction of agricultural incomes.
- Stability of Food Supply: Global and regional weather conditions are also expected to become more variable than at present, with increases in the frequency and severity of extreme events such as cyclones, floods, hailstorms, and droughts. By bringing greater fluctuations in crop yields and local food supplies and higher risks of landslides and erosion damage, they can adversely affect the stability of food supplies and thus food security. If climate fluctuations become more pronounced and more widespread, droughts and floods, the dominant causes of short term fluctuations in food production in semiarid and sub-humid areas, will become more severe and more frequent. In semiarid areas, droughts can dramatically reduce crop yields and livestock numbers and productivity. Again, most of this land is in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia, meaning that the poorest regions with the highest level of chronic undernourishment will also be exposed to the highest degree of instability in food production. How strongly these impacts will be felt will crucially depend on whether such fluctuations can be countered by investments in irrigation, better storage facilities, or higher food imports. In addition, a policy environment that fosters freer trade and promotes investments in transportation, communications, and irrigation infrastructure can help address these challenges early on.
- Food Utilization: Climate change will also affect the ability of individuals to use food effectively by altering the conditions for food safety and changing the disease pressure from vector, water, and food-borne diseases. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria are likely to spread or recede with climate change. This article focuses on a narrow selection of diseases that affect food safety directly, i.e., food and water-borne diseases. The main concern about climate change and food security is that changing climatic conditions can initiate a vicious circle where infectious disease causes or compounds hunger, which, in turn, makes the affected populations more susceptible to infectious disease. The result can be a substantial decline in labor productivity and an increase in poverty and even mortality. Essentially all manifestations of climate change, be they drought, higher temperatures, or heavy rainfalls have an impact on the disease pressure, and there is growing evidence that these changes affect food safety and food security.
Conclusion:
The importance of the various dimensions and the overall impact of climate change on food security will differ across regions and over time and, most importantly, will depend on the overall socio-economic status that a country has accomplished as the effects of climate change set in
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