Topic;-Impact of

Climate Change on
Food Security

Name:-Sayan Bachaspati
(220202140004)
Soumyajit Panda
(220202140007)
Maddamsetti Satish Kumar
(220202140005)
INTRODUCTION
• Climate is not the same as weather, but the two phenomena are closely related. While weather
refers to short-term conditions that can change quickly, climate determines the long-term character
of a given place, for instance, whether it is temperate or tropical.
• It is due to this delicate relationship that we are facing both temperature rises and more frequent
weather extremes and natural disasters as a result of climate change.
• Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around
the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
• The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane.
• Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil and gas
operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings,
agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gas.
Based on the 1996 World food summit, food security is defined 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.
• The four main dimensions of food security:
1. Physical availability of food: Food availability addresses the “supply side” of food security and
is determined by the level of food production, stock levels and net trade.
2. Economic and physical access to food: An adequate supply of food at the national or
international level does not in itself guarantee household level food security. Concerns about
insufficient food access have resulted in a greater policy focus on incomes, expenditure,
markets and prices in achieving food security objectives.
3. Food utilization: Utilization is commonly understood as the way the body makes the most of
various nutrients in the food. Sufficient energy and nutrient intake by individuals are the result
of good care and feeding practices, food preparation, diversity of the diet and intra-household
distribution of food. Combined with good biological utilization of food consumed, this
determines the nutritional status of individuals.
4. Stability of the other three dimensions over time: Even if your food intake is adequate today,
you are still considered to be food insecure if you have inadequate access to food on a periodic
basis, risking a deterioration of your nutritional status. Adverse weather conditions, political
instability, or economic factors (unemployment, rising food prices) may have an impact on your
food security status.
The reasons behind the climate change are as follows:-
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The primary driver of climate change is the increase in greenhouse
gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Human
activities, including the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), deforestation, and
industrial processes, release large amounts of these gases into the atmosphere.
• Deforestation: Trees play a crucial role in absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. Deforestation, or
the clearing of forests for agriculture, logging, and other purposes, reduces the number of trees
available to absorb CO2, contributing to higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Burning of Fossil Fuels: The combustion of fossil fuels for energy production is a major source of
CO2 emissions. Power plants, vehicles, and industrial facilities release significant amounts of
carbon dioxide into the air when burning coal, oil, and natural gas.
• Industrial Processes: Certain industrial activities release greenhouse gases as by products. For
example, cement production produces CO2 during the chemical conversion of limestone to
clinker. Similarly, the production of certain chemicals can result in the release of potent
greenhouse gases.
• Agricultural Practices: Agriculture contributes to climate change through emissions of methane
and nitrous oxide. Livestock, such as cows, produce methane during digestion (enteric
fermentation), and nitrogen-based fertilizers contribute to nitrous oxide emissions.
• Waste Management: Improper disposal of organic waste in landfills produces methane as it
decomposes. Additionally, the incineration of waste materials can release greenhouse gases into
the atmosphere.
• Land Use Changes: Alterations in land use, such as urbanization and changes in agricultural
practices, can influence the balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Climate change has far-reaching and diverse effects on the
environment, ecosystems, and human societies.
• Rising Temperatures: Global temperatures are increasing, leading to more frequent and intense
heatwaves. This can result in heat-related illnesses, stress on ecosystems, and challenges for
agriculture.
• Melting Ice and Rising Sea Levels: Warming temperatures contribute to the melting of glaciers
and polar ice caps. This, along with the thermal expansion of seawater, leads to rising sea levels.
This poses a threat to coastal communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure.
• Extreme Weather Events: Climate change is associated with an increase in the frequency and
intensity of extreme weather events, including hurricanes, droughts, floods, and wildfires. These
events can cause widespread destruction, displacement of populations, and loss of life.
• Ocean Acidification: The absorption of excess CO2 by the world's oceans leads to ocean
acidification. This can have detrimental effects on marine life, particularly organisms with calcium
carbonate shells or skeletons, such as corals and certain shellfish.
• Impact on Ecosystems: Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns can disrupt ecosystems
and threaten biodiversity. Species may face challenges in adapting or migrating to suitable
habitats, leading to shifts in ecosystems.
• Loss of Biodiversity: Climate change, coupled with habitat destruction and fragmentation,
contributes to the loss of biodiversity. Many species may struggle to adapt, and some may face
extinction.
• Changes in Water Resources: Altered precipitation patterns and increased evaporation can affect
water availability and quality. This can lead to water scarcity, impacting agriculture, drinking water
supplies, and ecosystems.
• Food Security: Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns can affect crop yields and food
production. Extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts, can disrupt agricultural
systems, leading to food shortages and increased food prices.
• Health Impacts: Climate change can have direct and indirect effects on human health. Heatwaves
can lead to heat-related illnesses, and changes in precipitation patterns can affect the spread of
diseases carried by vectors like mosquitoes.
• Social and Economic Disruptions: The impacts of climate change can exacerbate existing social
and economic inequalities. Vulnerable communities, often with limited resources, may be
disproportionately affected by extreme weather events and other consequences of climate
change.
• Migration and Displacement: Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and environmental
degradation can contribute to population displacement and migration, leading to social and
geopolitical challenges.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
• The number of people suffering acute food insecurity increased from 135 million in 2019 to 345
million in 82 countries by June 2022, as the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, and the
continued economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed food prices to all-time highs.
• Global food insecurity had already been rising, due in large part to climate phenomena.
• Rising food commodity prices in 2021 were a major factor in pushing approximately 30 million
additional people in low-income countries towards food insecurity.
• At the same time, the way that food is often produced today is a big part of the problem. It’s
recently been estimated that the global food system is responsible for about a third of
greenhouse gas emissions.
• About 80% of the global population most at risk from crop failures and hunger from climate
change are in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, where farming families are
disproportionally poor and vulnerable.
• A severe drought caused by the weather pattern or climate change can push millions more people
into poverty.
Climate change affects farming and food security in the future
• Up to a certain point, rising temperatures and CO2 can be beneficial for crops. But rising
temperatures also accelerate evapotranspiration from plants and soils, and there must also be
enough water for crops to thrive.
• Climate change will increasingly cause adverse impacts on agriculture production through
diminishing water supplies, increases in extreme events like floods and severe storms, heat stress,
and increased prevalence of pests and diseases.
• In countries where temperatures are already extremely high, such as the Sahel belt of Africa or
South Asia, rising temperatures could have a more immediate effect on crops such as wheat that
are less heat tolerant.
• Without solutions, falling crop yields, especially in the world's most food-insecure regions, will
push more people into poverty – an estimated 43 million people in Africa alone could fall below
the poverty line by 2030 as a result.
Following conclusions can be drawn regarding the impact of climate
change on food security:

• Crop Yield Variability: Climate change introduces increased variability in temperature and
precipitation, leading to fluctuations in crop yields. Extreme weather events, such as droughts,
floods, and heatwaves, can damage crops and reduce overall agricultural productivity.
• Water Scarcity: Changes in precipitation patterns and increased evaporation can lead to water
scarcity, affecting irrigation systems crucial for agriculture. Water stress can reduce the availability
of water for crops, impacting both quantity and quality of yield.
• Shifts in Growing Seasons: Altered temperature patterns can lead to changes in growing seasons,
affecting the suitability of certain regions for specific crops. This requires adjustments in
agricultural practices and may result in challenges for traditional farming systems.
• Pests and Diseases: Changes in climate conditions can influence the distribution and prevalence
of pests and diseases affecting crops. Warmer temperatures and altered humidity levels can
create more favourable conditions for the spread of agricultural pests and diseases, posing a
threat to food production.
• Sea Level Rise and Coastal Agriculture: Rising sea levels and increased salinity in coastal areas
can impact agriculture, especially in low-lying regions. Saltwater intrusion can contaminate soil
and water, making it challenging to grow traditional crops and threatening the livelihoods of
coastal communities.
• Impact on Livestock: Changes in temperature and the availability of water and forage can affect
the health and productivity of livestock. Heat stress, water scarcity, and changes in the
distribution of diseases can pose challenges for animal husbandry and impact the supply of meat
and dairy products.
• Food Price Volatility: The combination of reduced crop yields, increased production costs, and
disruptions in the supply chain due to extreme weather events can contribute to food price
volatility. This can disproportionately affect vulnerable populations with limited resources.
• Global Trade and Food Access: Climate change can disrupt global trade patterns and impact the
availability and affordability of certain food products. Changes in production in one region can
have ripple effects on food access and prices in other parts of the world.
• Social and Economic Impacts: The effects of climate change on food security extend beyond
agricultural systems, impacting the livelihoods of those dependent on agriculture. Vulnerable
communities, particularly in developing countries, may face increased poverty, malnutrition, and
food insecurity.
Climate change is profoundly modifying the conditions under which agricultural activities are
conducted.
• Climate change has both direct and indirect impacts on agricultural production systems. Direct
impacts include effects caused by a modification of physical characteristics such as temperature
Summary xi levels and rainfall distribution on specific agricultural production systems.
• The projected impacts of climate change on major crop yields are now well documented, based
on two decades of research. Globally, negative impacts are more commonly found than positive
ones.
• Observations of the effects of climate trends on crop production indicate that climate change has
already negatively affected wheat and maize yields in many regions, as well as globally.
Climate change affects livestock production in multiple ways, both directly
and indirectly.
• The most important impacts are experienced in animal productivity and health as well as, yields
of forages and feed crops. In various countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 20 to 60 percent losses in
animal numbers were recorded during serious drought events in the past decades.
• In South Africa, dairy yields may decrease by 10 to 25 percent because of climate change.
Increased temperatures and reduced precipitation can cause important drops in forage
production, such as the 60 percent deficit of green fodder during the 2003 summer in France.
Climate change and climate variability are impacting forests
• Evidence shows that in various regions climate change is contributing to decreased productivity
and dieback of trees from drought and temperature stress, increased wind and water erosion,
increased storm damage, increased frequency of forest fires, pest and disease outbreaks,
landslides, and avalanches, changing in ranges of forest plants and animals, inundation and flood
damage, saltwater intrusion and sea level rise, and damage from coastal storms.
Climate change affects capture fisheries and the development of aquaculture
in marine and freshwater environments
• Impacts occur as a result of both gradual atmospheric warming and associated physical (sea and
inland water surface temperature, ocean circulation, waves and storm systems) and chemical
changes (salinity content, oxygen concentration and acidification) of the aquatic environment .
• Various fish species are already migrating poleward, resulting in the rapid “tropicalization” of
mid- and high-latitude systems.
• Abundance and species diversity of riverine fish are particularly sensitive to disturbances in the
quantity and timing of water flows, and especially to lower water levels during dry seasons.
Pressures on river flows may be exacerbated by human action to retain water in reservoirs and
irrigation channels.
Impacts on production translate into economic and social consequences,
affecting food security
• Impact translates from climate to the environment, to the productive sphere, to economic and
social dimensions, bringing a range of additional risks on the availability of food, access to food
and utilization of food, as well as on the stability of these characteristics, for both farm and non-
farm households.
• At the farm/household level, climate change impacts may reduce income level and stability,
through effects on productivity, production costs or prices. Such variations can drive sales of
productive capital, such as cattle, which reduces long-term household productive capacity.
• This triggers macro-economic effects for countries for which agriculture is an important part of
GDP and/ or constitutes an important source of employment. Climatic risks can also hinder
agricultural development by discouraging investments.
Climate change affects food security in all its dimensions: access, availability,
utilization and stability
• Climate change affects food production, and thus food availability. Climate change will impact the
livelihoods and income of small-scale food producers and also, through food price increases and
volatility, the livelihoods of poor net food buyers, restricting access to food.
• Impacts of climate change on nutrition have been much less studied. Studies point to potential
changes in the nutritional quality of some foods (e.g. reduced concentration in proteins and in
some vitamins and minerals), due to elevated CO2, particularly for flour from major cereals and
cassava.
• Climate change has been found to have an impact on food safety, particularly on incidence and
prevalence of food-borne diseases. Increased climate variability, increased frequency and
intensity of extreme events as well as slow ongoing changes will affect the stability of food supply,
access and utilization.
•
Adaption of agriculture to climate change
• Use water more efficiently and effectively, combined with policies to manage demand. Building
more irrigation infrastructure may not be a solution if future water supply proves to be inadequate to
supply the irrigation system which our research has shown may indeed be the case for some
countries.
• Switch to less-thirsty crops. For example, rice farmers could switch to crops that require less water
such as maize or legumes.
• This is hugely important Increasing organic carbon in the soil helps it better retain water and allows
plants to access water more readily, increasing resilience to drought.
• India’s current per acre output is amongst the lowest in the world and there is a huge opportunity
for improvement here. Adopting modern tilling techniques and the usage of synthetic chemicals,
fertilizers, etc.
• Cutting-edge technologies can help reduce the use of chemical inputs. For example, herbicide
usage can be significantly reduced by mechanical weed removal with the help of solar-powered
and laser-aided robots.
Risk Factors of the Adaptation
• Too many middlemen in the supply chain are dangerous to the nation-Eliminating the
middlemen from the food supply chain will increase remuneration to farmers and lower prices for
the end consumers. It even helps us fight inflation. With higher remuneration, farmers can invest
in modern fertilizers / insecticides / insecticides / herbicides – boosting per acre yield which will
further increase their income creating a snowball effect.
• Dependency on a small number of foreign corporations-The dependency on foreign players for
specific seeds (resistant to chemicals like herbicides) and chemicals comes with associated risks –
food price volatility (steep rise or decline in prices), unavailability of products and loss of
biodiversity.
• Mix up-A judicious mix of traditional knowledge, modern farming methodologies, along with
postmodern emerging technologies will ensure food security in India, notwithstanding the ill
effects of climate change.
About 80% of the global population is most at risk from crop failures and hunger from climate
change in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, where farming families are
disproportionally poor and vulnerable.