Scientific data is more than enough to conclude that climate change is faster than ever before. But are we changing fast enough to face the greatest development and humanitarian challenges?
Many of the potential impacts of rapid changes in climate have been modeled at multiple levels, including impacts on one of the most fundamental human rights: food. But the question is whether we are transforming the food security sector fast enough to achieve the net-zero emission target by 2050, while ensuring people have access to not only enough, but also nutritious food.
In this context, does the food security sector possess the agility and flexibility to face climate extremes so that everyone has access to nutritious, quality food?
The first World Food Summit held in 1996 explains that food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 2021).
Climate change disproportionately impacts all dimensions of food security, including the quantity, quality, access, and food preferences.
The impact of climate change in South Asia can jeopardize global food security
South Asia is not an exception. On the one end, the region is highly vulnerable to climate change and variability; on the other end, it is a key player in global food supply and value chains. Hence, climate change impacts in South Asia will not only derail the region’s food security, but also jeopardize food supply and value chains on a global scale.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate-related drivers of impacts in South Asia include a warming trend, extreme temperatures, extreme precipitation, dry spells, damaging cyclones, and sea-level rise.
Increased risk of crop failures and lower production are inevitable in the region by 2050. Water scarcity in arid areas will continue to reduce production and productivity. Furthermore, increased risks of drought-related water and food shortages, which cause malnutrition, pose significant threats to the region.
On the other hand, floodplains, lower river basins, and deltas will face increased riverine, coastal and urban flooding, leading to widespread damages to infrastructure, croplands, livestock, livelihoods, markets, and settlements, therefore posing significant risks to food security.
Sea-level rise and sea-water intrusion will also reduce arable lands in South Asia, thus impacting the food production and supply in major parts of the region.
Climate change will further exacerbate poverty, inequalities, and vulnerabilities; putting the food security of the region at extreme risk. IPCC projects that food insecurity will be a significant challenge by the middle of the 21st Century, resulting in the largest number of food-insecure people of the world living in South Asia.
Climate change mitigation: an option or a need of the hour?
In line with the Paris Agreement, South Asian countries have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. Achieving these goals are possible by focusing on key contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Around 21-37% of total GHG emissions globally are attributed to the food security sector.
Therefore, climate change mitigation in the food security sector is no longer a choice but the only option. For South Asia, all countries in the region need to integrate climate mitigation measures into their food security sectors while updating their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Agro-infrastructure, farm machinery, farming practices, waste disposal, post-harvesting losses, food waste, transport, storage, agro-based value added product manufacturing, supply, and value chains need to be transformed to achieve net-zero emissions targets.
Climate innovations are needed now more than ever before to ensure food security concerns are addressed, adaptation options are scaled up, and emissions are reduced through clean and renewable energy sources.
Adaptation options through the prism of food security
Adaptation to climate change should be a critical component of the region’s resilience-building strategy. Some of the key adaptation options include:
1. Policy and practice coherence:
Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3 (no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and wellbeing respectively) are directly linked to food security. Failure to achieve these goals by 2030 will inevitably lead to food insecurity in the region. On the other hand, both adaptation and mitigation in the food security sector are important in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. To ensure food and livelihood security, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR 2015-2030) also emphasizes investing in critical sectors to reduce disaster risk.
Therefore, countries in South Asia need to look at food security through policy coherence in implementing global frameworks at local levels.
2. Data-driven decision support tools for agro-early warning systems:
Climate and disaster analytics play a crucial role in selecting appropriate mitigation and adaptation options in the food security sector. Agro-Early Warning System (AEWS) is a critical component of adaptation strategies. The AEWS should be designed utilizing local practices, knowledge, and know-how coupled with advanced data gathering, projections, and forecasting tools to enable policymakers, technocrats, and at-risk communities to make risk-informed decisions in time.
3. Regenerative agriculture practices:
Regenerative agriculture practices support the reversing of climate change by rebuilding degraded soil and restoring organic matters and biodiversity while improving the water cycle.
Regenerative agriculture will be a vital instrument in maintaining and restoring topsoil to meet future production demands. This will also contribute to the production of healthy and quality foods that will contribute to food security in the region.
4. Research, innovations, and scale-ups:
Investing in research related to impacts, losses, and adaptation options including drought and flood resilient varieties, pests, and diseases, is critical to meeting food security needs.
Promising climate resilience practices (including ecosystem-based approaches and vertical home gardening) need to be scaled-up across the region to have a greater impact in this sector.
5. Enabling environment through policies, markets, institutions, and governance:
The resilience of the food security sector can be enhanced through risk governance and risk reduction measures, such as insurance markets, index-based weather insurance, and other policy instruments, to promote adaptation and reduce GHG emissions.
The food security sector has already been under severe strain due to disasters and climate change before COVID-19 reached the region.
The pandemic has complicated the situation and created new vulnerabilities that make the sector even more fragile.
If the region is to meet food security demands and continue playing its dominant role in the global food supply and value chains, climate change mitigation and adaption are no longer an option; rather, it is an urgent priority. If it is not integrated into policies, strategies, and programs as a priority area, SDG Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) will take a long time to achieve.
The writer is Director, Preparedness for Response and Recovery (PRR) Department at ADPC.
Email: sisira@adpc.net
