Global food security under climate change

Abstract

This article reviews the potential impacts of climate change on food security. It is found that of the four main elements of food security, i.e., availability, stability, utilization, and access, only the first is routinely addressed in simulation studies. To this end, published results indicate that the impacts of climate change are significant, however, with a wide projected range (between 5 million and 170 million additional people at risk of hunger by 2080) strongly depending on assumed socio-economic development. The likely impacts of climate change on the other important dimensions of food security are discussed qualitatively, indicating the potential for further negative impacts beyond those currently assessed with models. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of current assessment studies are discussed, suggesting improvements and proposing avenues for new analyses.hunger ͉ vulnerability ͉ food supply ͉ agriculture

Allelic variation at a single gene increases food value in a drought-tolerant staple cereal

“…F ood security is a key challenge facing humanity, given the exponential population growth and climate change 1,2 . Increasing production without agricultural expansion remains at the core of proposed solutions to ensure food security while minimizing environmental impact 3 .…”

Declining global per capita agricultural production and warming oceans threaten food security

“…Most rural citizens in developing nations are involved in agriculture (Lamb 2000). Also, most locally produced goods are consumed locally, so increasing local productivity and slowing population growth remains a central food security issue (Devereux and Maxwell 2001;Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007). Over the past few years, energy price increases, biofuels and food scarcity have led to higher global food prices and price volatility.…”

Assessing the food security outcomes of industrial crop expansion in smallholder settings: insights from cotton production in Northern Ghana and sugarcane production in Central Ethiopia

“…Among these four pillars, availability is most commonly addressed in food security studies, with the other relevant elements, including gender equality, often being overlooked (Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007;Pinstrup-Andersen 2009;Lang and Barling 2012). This is particularly true for studies exploring the effects of IC expansion (Ewing and Msangi 2009;Van Eijck et al 2014); few studies have examined the effects of IC expansion on food price stability and utilization pillars (Negash and Swinnen 2013).…”

“…4 Food instability reflects the risk of losing access to the resources needed to consume adequate food in the short-and long-term. These risks can be attributed to several factors such as price increases and fluctuations in food supply (Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007;Wu et al 2011;Tibesigwa and Visser 2016). team guided the discussion. Participants were asked open questions, probing questions, and open-ranking questions to assess topics including unpaid care work, factors that affect household food security, investment priorities, gender roles, livelihood diversification, and the main roadblocks to achieving food security.…”

“…Each session lasted approximately 1 h. Local interpreters helped translate each session while the research 2 Food availability refers to the presence of food from one's own production or received as a gift, while access indicates the ability to purchase sufficient quantities of food (Coates et al 2007;Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007;Vink 2012). 3 Food utilization considers food safety and quality, including proper sanitary conditions across the entire food chain (Coates et al 2007;Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007;Wu et al 2011;Vink 2012). 4 Food instability reflects the risk of losing access to the resources needed to consume adequate food in the short-and long-term.…”