Eps 1: The global food crisis is intensifying
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Host
Hugh Kuhn
Podcast Content
Extreme weather-related disasters have also disproportionately affected low-income people and their food access, so we decided to focus on the link between climate change and food security in the Global Hunger Index 2019, produced by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. With the 2019 data now in hand , we look at some ways that climate change is threatening food security -- and how it could affect all of us. As agriculture researchers across the globe look for ways to head off what is rapidly becoming the worst global food crisis in 50 years, the emphasis needs to shift from efficient food value chains to sustainable food systems. Analysis of the drivers affecting the global food system in coming decades has convinced many people that we are entering a new period where rapidly rising demand-side and supply-side pressures are likely to drive up food prices to levels that increase hunger and malnutrition, and could trigger political-economic disruption.
The coming decades are likely to see increasing pressures on the global food system, on the demand side due to rising populations and per capita consumption, and on the supply side due to increased input competition and from climate change. Climate change impacts the food system such that those already suffering from hunger and malnutrition are the ones who are most exposed to these added threats. Climate change will worsen those threats, with flooding, drought, storms, and other types of extreme weather all threatening to interrupt, and, in time, reduce, the worlds food supply. The fallout from Ukraines war has increased global food security risks, with food prices likely to stay elevated in the near future, and are expected to drive millions more into acute food shortages.
The war in Ukraine Ukraine has worsened food insecurity globally because of unstable supply chains, rising fertilizer prices, and blocked exports of cereals, leaders said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum here, calling for the resolution of the global food crisis along with the climate crisis. The war in Ukraine has altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that are expected to sustain historically high prices until late 2024, exacerbating food insecurity and inflation, according to an April 2022 forecast for commodity markets by the World Bank. Conflict is the largest contributor to global hunger, responsible for the largest share of acutely hungry individuals--65%. The causes of hunger and food insecurity are numerous, and differ between countries, but in general, they are the result of conflict, poverty, economic shocks like hyperinflation and rising commodity prices, and environmental disruptions like floods or droughts.
The world is in a much different place than it was six years ago, when it committed to achieving a target to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Evidence shows the worlds food systems are going to react imperfectly, and sometimes perversely, with lag times that are going to leave a lot of people hungry, and in many parts of the world, with permanent ecological damage. On May 18, the World Bank announced actions that the World Bank plans to undertake in a comprehensive, comprehensive response to the ongoing food security crisis, with up to $30 billion for existing and new projects in areas including agriculture, nutrition, social protection, and water and irrigation. Recognizing that the impacts and capacity to address the global food security crisis are unequally distributed among countries, and that conflicts, climate change, and macroeconomic disruptions are threatening global food security both immediately and going forward, we urge all United Nations Member States to commit to address immediate humanitarian needs and disruptions, including to ensuring full, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access for populations in need.
Recognizing that the impacts of and capacity to respond to the global food security crisis are unevenly distributed across countries, and that conflicts, climate change, and macroeconomic shocks threaten global food security both immediately and into the future, we call on all UN Member States to commit to addressing immediate humanitarian needs and disruptions, including guaranteeing full, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access to populations in need. We urge all members to guarantee the security of sea transport across the Black Sea. We should work together to alleviate the shortage of fertilizer and subsequent threats to food production, enhance investments in farm capacity and resilience, cushion those in vulnerable situations against impacts to their food security, nutrition, and wellbeing, and maintain high-level global political engagement on these critical issues. Both rich and developing countries have key roles to play, especially given the need for more than 60% more food production by 2050 to feed the world, and Fixing the global food crisis is everybodys business, said Mariam Mohammed Saeed Al Mheiri, minister for climate change and environment, UAE.
If diets are changed, if the wastes of the global food system are eliminated, not only can we feed the world using existing farmland, it may be possible to cut the inputs and the ecological damage caused by the present production of food. The goal should be to grow more food on less land, and in order to achieve that, farmers could adopt best practices from both organic and conventional agriculture.
As we see from the increasingly global nature of our food systems, though, supply cannot occur in isolation. Middle-income countries like Egypt and Brazil are uniquely poorly placed to deal with rising food insecurity, Verisk Maplecroft, an international risk consultancy, said last week in a report.