Climate Change And World Food Security

Roughly a billion people around the world continue to live in state of chronic hunger and food insecurity. Unfortunately, efforts to improve their livelihoods must now unfold in the context of a rapidly changing climate, in which warming temperatures and changing rainfall regimes could threaten the basic productivity of the agricultural systems on which most of the world’s poor directly depend. But whether climate change represents a minor impediment or an existential threat to development is an area of substantial controversy, with different conclusions wrought from different methodologies and based on different data. This book aims to resolve some of the controversy by exploring and comparing the different methodologies and data that scientists use to understand climate’s effects on food security. In explains the nature of the climate threat, the ways in which crops and farmers might respond, and the potential role for public and private investment to help agriculture adapt to a warmer world. This broader understanding should prove useful to both scientists charged with quantifying climate threats, and policy-makers responsible for crucial decisions about how to respond. The book is especially suitable as a companion to an interdisciplinary undergraduate or graduate level class.

In the last half decade since sustainable development became a serious objective, what have we achieved? Are livelihoods more secure? Are nations wealthier and more resilient? Is environmental quality being restored or maintained? These are essential questions of development. Their answers are many, varied between communities and regions, even between individuals. Two years ago, in the aftermath of the Earth Summit and ratification of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but before the first Conference of Parties, I participated in a panel at the inaugural Oxford Environment Conference on Climate Change and World Food Security. The panel vigorously reviewed issues of resilient development and food security. This book is a product of the Oxford Environment Conference. It takes the essential questions of sustainability as a starting point to focus on present food security and its future prospects in the face of climate change. Why is this book important? First, I believe our goals to end hunger are under threat. We know what to do in many respects, but fail to generate the finances and political will to change the structures that thrive on poverty. Second, I believe concern about the environment has become dangerously separated from the fundamental issues of human deprivation. Third, I believe climate change is a serious threat and I am dismayed at the way nations dither over how to control greenhouse gas emissions and mechanisms to meet the challenge of adverse climate impacts.

This book looks at the current state of food security and climate change, discusses the issues that are affecting them, and the actions required to ensure there will be enough food for the future. By casting a much wider net than most previously published books—to include select novel approaches, techniques, genes from crop diverse genetic resources or relatives—it shows how agriculture may still be able to triumph over the very real threat of climate change. Food Security and Climate Change integrates various challenges posed by changing climate, increasing population, sustainability in crop productivity, demand for food grains to sustain food security, and the anticipated future need for nutritious quality foods. It looks at individual factors resulting from climate change, including rising carbon emission levels, increasing temperature, disruptions in rainfall patterns, drought, and their combined impact on planting environments, crop adaptation, production, and management. The role of plant genetic resources, breeding technologies of crops, biotechnologies, and integrated farm management and agronomic good practices are included, and demonstrate the significance of food grain production in achieving food security during climate change. Food Security and Climate Change is an excellent book for researchers, scientists, students, and policy makers involved in agricultural science and technology, as well as those concerned with the effects of climate change on our environment and the food industry.

In order to feed their burgeoning populations, developing nations will need to double cereal production by the year 2050. This increase will have to come from existing land, as little potential exists for bringing new land under cultivation -- a daunting prospect when one realizes that increased use and significantly higher concentrations of carbon dioxide have led to a severe depletion of the carbon pool in the world's soils. This is especially telling in developing countries where tropical climates further compromise the soil's ability to recover. In Climate Change and Global Food Security, bestselling editor Rattan Lal heads up a team of the world's top soil scientists and ecologists to document the history of this impending agricultural crisis and explore possible solutions. Throughout this timely text, the authors address six complex themes: 1. The impact of projected climate change on soil quality, water resources, temperature regime, and growing season duration on net primary productivity of different biomes 2. Soil carbon dynamics under changing climate 3. The impact of changes in carbon dioxide and ecological environments on agronomic yields and food production in different regions of the world 4. World food demands and supply during the 21st century 5. Policy and economic issues related to carbon trading and enhancing agricultural production 6. Research and development priorities for enhancing soil carbon pool and food security This hard-hitting text is essential reading for anyone involved with soil and crop sciences as well as policy makers and change agents who need to come to the forefront of this issue armed with the latest information and viable solutions.

Food security is high on the political agenda. Fears about societal insecurity due to food price increases and hunger, grave scenarios regarding the effects of climate change and general uncertainty about the impacts of investments in biofuels and so-call “land grabbing” on food prices and availability have meant that food security is now recognised as being a multifaceted challenge. This book is unique in that it will bring together analyses of these different factors that impact on food security. This volume will describe a range of different perspectives on food security, with an emphasis on the various meanings that are applied to food security “crisis”. The challenges to be reviewed include market volatility, climate change and state fragility. Analyses of responses to food security crises and risk will cover rural and urban contexts, arenas of national policy formation and global food regimes, and investment in land and productive technologies. This book is unique in two respects. First, it takes a step back from the normative literature focused on specific factors of, for example, climate change, agricultural production or market volatility to look instead at the dynamic interplay between these new challenges. It helps readers to understand that food security is not one discourse, but is rather related to how these different factors generate multiple risks and opportunities. Second, through the case studies the book particularly emphasises how these factors come together at local levels as farmers, entrepreneurs, consumers, local government officials and others are making key decisions about what will be done to address food security and whose food security will be given priority. The book will explore how food production and consumption is embedded in powerful political and market forces and how these influence local actions.

This book addresses an important topic of food security in South Asia with specific reference to climate change. Of the 1 billion food insecure people in the world, more than 30% are in South Asia. The problem of food insecurity may be exacerbated by the projected climate change especially because of the water scarcity caused by rapid melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and increase in variability in monsoonal rains and frequency of extreme events. Furthermore, large populations of Bangladesh and other coastal regions may be displaced by sea level rise. Thus, this volume addresses recommended land use and soil/water/crop/vegetation management practices which would enable land managers to adapt to climate disruption by enhancing soil/ecosystem/social resilience. In addition to biophysical factors, this book also addresses the issues related to human dimensions including social, ethnical and political considerations.

With the potential to impact weather patterns, agriculture, and habitability of certain regions, global warming is a topic of interest to environmentalists, scientists, as well as farmers around the world. The threat of food shortages and famine especially becomes a major concern as a result of recent climate shifts. Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security in Small Island Developing States discusses the repercussions of a shifting climate on food production and availability in small island nations. Comprised of research-based chapters on topics relevant to crop management, sustainable development, and livestock management on island territories, this advanced reference work is appropriate for environmental researchers, food scientists, academicians, and upper-level students seeking the latest information on agricultural concerns amidst a changing climate.

After steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger is on the rise again, while various forms of malnutrition coexist. Climate change is already exacerbating this grim picture, which is why food security and food production will be a major focus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Cycle. Thanks to the participation of 250 experts from all around the world, the International Symposium on Food Security and Nutrition in the Age of Climate Change highlighted the importance of food and agricultural systems in the fight against climate change and presented concrete multi-sector solutions to address this global issue. The event placed special emphasis on the regional realities of West Africa and the Canadian North, as well as to the presence of young people and members of Indigenous and Northern communities directly affected by these issues. The summaries of these four days of plenaries, interactive workshops, and special events have been grouped under seven major themes for this publication: 1) Climate change, food security and nutrition: the issues; (2) The agriculture sectors in the context of climate change; (3) Food systems in the face of climate change; (4) Natural resources: challenges and solutions; (5) Food security and nutrition in a changing North; (6) Summary of solutions; (7) Strengthening and adapting regional and international cooperation.