Multidimensional Food Security Nexus in Drylands under the Slow Onset Effects of Climate Change

Abstract

Hyperarid, arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas cover approximately 41% of the global land area. The human population in drylands, currently estimated at 2.7 billion, faces limited access to sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food. We discuss the interlinkages among water security, environmental security, energy security, economic security, health security, and food security governance, and how they affect food security in drylands. Reliable and adequate water supply, and the prevention of water contamination, increase the potential for ample food, fodder, and fiber production. Protecting woodlands and rangelands increases food security by buffering the slow onset effects of climate change, including biodiversity loss, desertification, salinization, and land degradation. The protection of natural lands is expected to decrease environmental contamination, and simultaneously, reduce the transfer of diseases from wildlife to humans. Biofuel production and hydroelectric power plants increase energy security but generate land-use conflicts, deforestation, and ecosystem degradation. Economic security generally positively correlates with food security. However, economic growth often degrades the environment, changes tenure rights over natural resources, and stimulates migration to urban areas, resulting in lower food and health security. Moreover, civil unrest, political instability, and armed conflicts disrupt local economies in drylands. Maintaining food security is crucial for health security; conversely, malnourished populations and unresponsive health systems decrease economic security, and adversely affect environmental, energy, and food security. Climate change is expected to deteriorate health security by spreading vector-borne diseases. Effective governance and timely interventions can substantially shorten periods of food insecurity, lower their intensities, and accelerate recovery from inevitable crises, and are therefore crucial in preventing humanitarian crises. Since global drylands population will nearly double by 2050, and since drylands are among the most susceptible areas to climate change, integrated multi-hazard approaches to food security are needed.

Trends in climate, socioeconomic indices and food security in Nigeria: Current realities and challenges ahead

“…Erratic rainfall will disrupt the growing season, impact pastoral resources, increase food prices and access to food (FEWS NET, 2022). Apart from these impacts, a lack of water for human and agricultural use, competition for scarce food and resources, and mismanagement of natural resources (Lu et al, 2015;Tumushabe, 2018;Stavi et al, 2021) will exacerbate the crisis of food insecurity. Owing to the increasing intensity of climate warming in Nigeria, livelihoods will be lost, poverty will deepen, food will be scarce, and social unrest will escalate.…”

Contextualizing Climate Change Impacts on Human Mobility in African Drylands

“…Dryland ecosystems are characterized by challenging agroclimatic conditions, including high levels of aridity, water scarcity, and high rainfall variability. Climate change together with human activities, such as unsustainable land use, are contributing to land degradation in African drylands, leading to significant reductions in crop and livestock productivity (Shiferaw et al., 2014; Stavi et al., 2021a, 2021b). The inhabitants have adapted their livelihood strategies to these conditions with populations in drier areas being mainly involved in forms of pastoralism or agropastoralism (FAO, 2018).…”

“…Food insecurity, fueled by changing climatic conditions, land use and management, and population dynamics, can cause major displacement and migration (Misselhorn, 2005; Stavi, Roque de Pinho et al., 2021). In 2020, an estimated 282 million people in Africa (21% of the population) were undernourished and 798.8 million were moderately or severely food insecure (59.6% of the population).…”

Rio (1992) to Glasgow (2021): Three decades of inadequate mitigation of climate change and its slow onset effects

“…Due to the massive stores of organic carbon locked in permafrost, thawing triggers extensive microbial breakdown of carbon into CO 2 and CH 4 that are released to the atmosphere, generating a positive feedback with climate change (Schuur et al, 2015). The combined effect of the increasing temperatures degrades ecological and environmental quality, deteriorating water-, food-, economic-, and health-security for extensive human populations, resulting in generation and exacerbation of humanitarian catastrophes across the globe (Stavi et al, 2021a).…”