Abstract

Research Article

An overview of the influence of climate change on food security and human health

Sanober Naheed*

Published: 18 January, 2023 | Volume 7 - Issue 1 | Pages: 001-011

Climate change is increasing the frequency of climate-related disasters, creating greater risks of hunger and the breakdown of food systems. The sustainability of our planet is currently a major concern for the global community and has been a central theme for a number of major global initiatives in recent years. Climate change has prevalent, multi-faceted, and temporal impacts on food security. Higher temperatures, water scarcity, extreme events like droughts and floods and greater CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have already begun to impact staple crops around the world. The warming climate is already taking a toll on human health, causing widespread hunger and illness that will grow exponentially worse, and will pose a major threat to human well-being. In this article, an attempt has been made to discuss some critical issues relevant to the four dimensions of food security and to provide broader perspectives on climate change and its impacts on the food system, food security and human well-being.
“Humanity is facing a rare challenge. But it is a common challenge. There are no sides in the fight for climate justice” (Kofi Annan’s message prior to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen 2009).

Read Full Article HTML DOI: 10.29328/journal.afns.1001044 Cite this Article Read Full Article PDF

Keywords:

Climate change; Extreme events; Food security; Human well-being; Malnutrition

References

  1. Cook J, Nuccitelli D, Green SA, Richardson MM, BarbelWinkler B, Painting R, Way R, Jacobs P, Skuce AA. Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature, Environmental Research Letters. 2013; 8:024024. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024,https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024/pdf
  2. Open Letter by the Executive Secretary on COVID-19. UN Climate Statement. 23April 2020.
  3. Ziervogel G, Ericksen PJ. Adapting to Climate Change to Sustain Food Security, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change. DOI: 10.1002/wcc.56, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227604047
  4. Climate Change: Unpacking the Burden on Food Safety. Food Safety and Quality Series No. 8. Rome. 2020. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8185en, http://www.fao.org/3/ca8185en/CA8185EN.pdf
  5. McGuigan C. Reynolds R, Wiedmer D. Poverty and Climate Change: Assessing Impacts in Developing Countries and the initiatives of the International Community, London School of Economics ConsultancyProjectfor The Overseas Development Institute. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/3449.pdf
  6. Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO). United nations Coordinated Support to People Affected by Disaster and Conflict, OCHA Geneva, Switzerland. 2020. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/
  7. Kundzewicz ZW. Extreme Weather Events and TheirConsequences, Papers on Global Change 2016; 23(1). DOI: 10.1515/igbp-2016-0005
  8. Preston BL, Jones RN. Climate Change Impacts on Australia and the Benefits of Early Action to Reduce Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions. 2006. https://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/prestonbl_2006a.pdf
  9. Climate Change: Helping Poor Countries to Adapt, Development Co-operation Report 2010. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/
  10. Climate Change and Food Systems: Global Assessments andImplications for Food Security and Trade. Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2015.
  11. Mbow C, Rosenzweig LG, Barioni TG. Food Security. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. 2019. [ Shukla, J Skea, E Calvo Buendia, V Masson-Delmotte, HO Pörtner, DC Roberts, P Zhai, R Slade, S Connors, R van Diemen, M Ferrat, E Haughey, S Luz, S Neogi, M Pathak, J Petzold, J Portugal Pereira, P Vyas, E Huntley, K Kissick, M Belkacemi, JMalley, (eds)].
  12. Calicioglu O, Flammini A, Stefania Bracco S, Bellù L, Sims R. The Future Challenges of Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Analysis of Trends and Solutions, 2019; 11:222. doi:10.3390/su11010222, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
  13. Kanamaru H. Food Security under a Changing Climate, Bulletin n°: WMO .2009; 58(3). https://public.wmo.int/en/bulletin/food-security-under-changing-climate
  14. Tacoli C, Bukhari B, Fisher S. Urban Poverty, Food Security and Climate Change, International Institute for Environment and Development, Human Settlements Working Paper37, Rural – Urban Interactions and Livelihood Strategies. 2013. https://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10623IIED.pdf
  15. Fraanje W, Lee-Gammage S. What is food security? (Foodsource: building blocks). Food Climate Research Network, University of Oxford. 2018. https://foodsource.org.uk/
  16. Simon AS. Food Security: Definition, Four Dimensions, History, Basic Readings as an Introduction to Food Securityfor students from the IPAD Master, SupAgro, Montpellierattending a joint training programmein Rome from 19th to 24th March2012, University of Roma Tre. 2012. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ERP/uni/F4D.pdf
  17. Tirado MC, Clarke R, Jaykus LA, McQuatters-Gollop A, Frank JM. Climate Change and Food Safety: A Review, Food Research International. 2010; 43:1745–1765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2010.07.003
  18. Phillips WR. FAO: its Origins, Formation and Evolution 1945-1981, Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Rome. 1981. http://www.fao.org/3/a-p4228e.pdf
  19. Climate Change and Food Security: A Framework Document. 2008. http://www.fao.org/forestry/15538079b31d45081fe9c3dbc6ff34de4807e4.pdf
  20. Schmidhuber J, Tubiello FN. Global food security under climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Dec 11;104(50):19703-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0701976104. Epub 2007 Dec 6. PMID: 18077404; PMCID: PMC2148361.
  21. Berry EM, Dernini S, Burlingame B, Meybeck A, Conforti P. Food security and sustainability: can one exist without the other? Public Health Nutr. 2015 Sep;18(13):2293-302. doi: 10.1017/S136898001500021X. Epub 2015 Feb 16. PMID: 25684016.
  22. Jarosz L. Defining World Hunger, Scale and Neolibral Ideology in International Food Security Policy Discourse, Food Culture and Society An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research. 2011; 14: 1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233557133
  23. Ingram J. A Food Systems Approach to Researching Food Security and its Interactions with Global Environmental Change, Food Security. 2011. DOI 10.1007/s12571-011-0149-9
  24. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange. [Field, CB Barros,VR Dokken, DJ Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir T, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova,RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL.(eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,UnitedKingdom and New York, NY, USA. 2014.. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-PartA_FINAL.pdf
  25. ‘Global warming of 1.5°C: Summary for Policy Makers.’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC: United States. 2018. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/07/SR15_SPM_High_Res.pdf
  26. Garnett T, Benton T, Nicholson W, Finch J. Overview of Food System Challenges (Foodsource: chapters). Food Climate Research Network, University of Oxford. 2016. https://foodsource.org.uk/sites/default/files/chapters/pdfs/foodsource_chapter_1.pdf.
  27. Guzman OEM. Food Security and Population Growth in the 21st Century, E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2011/07/18/food-security-and-population-growth-in-the-21st-century/
  28. Gopinath G. The Great Lockdown: Worst Economic Downturn Since the Great Depression, IMF Blogs, Insights and Analysis on Economics and Finance. 2020. https://blogs.imf.org/
  29. United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects 2019: Ten Key Findings. 2019. https://population.un.org/
  30. Godfray HC, Beddington JR, Crute IR, Haddad L, Lawrence D, Muir JF, Pretty J, Robinson S, Thomas SM, Toulmin C. Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science. 2010 Feb 12;327(5967):812-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1185383. Epub 2010 Jan 28. PMID: 20110467.
  31. Ray DK, West PC, Clark M, Gerber JS, Prishchepov AV, Chatterjee S. Climate change has likely already affected global food production. PLoS One. 2019 May 31;14(5):e0217148. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217148. PMID: 31150427; PMCID: PMC6544233.
  32. Dawson,PT, Perryman,NA, Osborne T. Modelling Impacts of Climate Change on Global Food Security, 2014; 134(3):1-12. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-014-1277-y http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-014-1277-y (DOI 10.1007/s10584-014-1277-y)
  33. Beer T. The Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Food Security. In: Mal S., Singh R., Huggel C. (eds) Climate Change, Extreme Events and Disaster Risk Reduction. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 2018. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-56469-2_8
  34. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). Measuring What Matters in Agriculture and Food Systems: A Synthesis of the Resultsand Recommendations of TEEB for Agriculture and Food’s Scientific and Economic Foundations Report. Geneva: UN Environment. 2018.
  35. Vermeulen SJ. Climate Change, Food Security and Small-Scale Producers. CCAFS Info Brief. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Copenhagen, Denmark. 2014. www.ccafs.cgiar.org
  36. Meadu V, Coche I, Vermeulen S, Friis AE., The Paris Climate Agreement: What it Means for Food and Farming, Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security. 2015. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/
  37. Allen MR, Dube OP, Solecki W, Aragón-Durand F, Cramer W, Humphreys S, Kainuma M, Kala J, Mahowald N, Mulugetta Y, Perez R, Wairiu M, Zickfeld K. Framing andContext. In: Global Warming of 1.5 °C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V, P Zhai, HO Pörtner, D Roberts, J Skea, PR Shukla A. Pirani W. Moufouma-Okia C. Péan R. Pidcock S. Connors JBR. Matthews Y. Chen, X Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E
  38. Hammond ST, Brown JH, Burger JR, Flanagan TP, Fristoe TS, Silva NM Nekola JC, Okie JG. Food Spoilage, Storage, and Transport: Implications for a Sustainable Future, 2015; 65:758-768. doi:10.1093/biosci/biv081, https://watermark.silverchair.com/
  39. Coley D, Howard M, Winter M. Local Food, Food Miles and Carbon Emissions: A Comparison of Farm Shop and Mass Distribution Approaches, Food Policy. 2009; 34:150–155. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2008.11.001 https://getmoreeducation.org/
  40. Aberman LN, Tirado C. Impacts of Climate Change on Food Utilization, Chapter from book Global environmental change. 2014;717-724. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278652699_Impacts_of_Climate_Change_on_Food_Utilization
  41. Human Health and Adaptation: Understanding Climate Impacts on Health and Opportunities for Action, Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, Forty-Sixth Session, Bonn, Germany. 2017. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2017/sbsta/eng/02.pdf
  42. Smith KR, Woodward A, Campbell-Lendrum D, Chadee,DD, Honda Y, Liu Q, Olwoch JM, Revich B, Sauerborn R. Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field CB, VR Barros, DJ Dokken, KJ Mach, MD Mastrandrea, TE. Bilir, M Chatterjee, KL Ebi, YO Estrada, RC. Genova, B Girma, ES Kissel, AN Levy, S MacCracken, PR Mastrandrea, LL White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. 2014. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5Chap11_FINAL.pdf
  43. Debucquet DL, Martin W. Implications of the Global Growth Slowdown for Rural Poverty, Agricultural Economics. 2018; 49. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/agec.12419
  44. Confalonieri U, Menne B, Akhtar R, Ebi KL, Hauengue M, Kovats RS, Revich B, Woodward A. Human Health, Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the FourthAssessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ML Parry, OF Canziani, JP Palutikof, PJ van derLinden and CE Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 2007; 391-431.
  45. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/423). https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf
  46. Food Safety, Climate Change and Role of WHO,Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses. 2018. https://www.who.int/foodsafety/_Climate_Change.pdf
  47. Kundzewicz ZW, Mata LJ, Arnell NW, Doll P, Kabat P, Jiménez B, Shiklomanov IA. Freshwater Resources and Their Management. In M. L. Parry, O. F. Canziani, J. P. Palutikof, P. J. van der Linden, and C. E. Hanson (Eds.), Climate change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment report of theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change. Cambridge, UK. 2007; 173–210.
  48. Firdaus RB, Gunaratne MS, Rahmat SR, Kamsi NS. DoesClimate Change only Affect Food Availability? What Else Matters? Cogent Food & Agriculture. 2019; 5:1; 1707607. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2019.1707607, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23311932.2019.1707607?needAccess=true
  49. Myers SS, Smith MR, Guth S, Golden CD, Vaitla B, Mueller ND, Dangour AD, Huybers P. Climate Change and Global Food Systems: Potential Impacts on Food Security and Undernutrition. Annu Rev Public Health. 2017 Mar 20;38:259-277. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044356. Epub 2017 Jan 6. PMID: 28125383.
  50. Islam MS, Wong AT. Climate Change and Food In/Security: A Critical Nexus, 2017; 4(2):38. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4020038 , https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/4/2/38/pdf
  51. Jahn M, Jayamaha B, Mulhern WS, Ross DE, Rose MA, Treverton GF. Global Food System Stability and Risk: At the Nexus of Defense and Development. Thomson Reuters. https://www.thomsonreuters.com/content/dam/ewp-m/documents/ thomsonreuters/en/pdf/reports/global-food-systemstability-and-risk-0718.pdf
  52. Janetos A, Justice C, Jahn M, Obersteiner M, Glauber J, Mulhern W. Pardee Center Research Report, The Risks of Multiple Breadbasket Failures in the 21st Century: A Science Research Agenda. 2017. http://www.bu.edu/pardee/files/2017/03/Multiple-Breadbasket-Failures-Pardee-Report.pdf
  53. Gola C. The Food Crisis and Food Security: Towards a New World Food Order? International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement. 2010; 1:215-232.
  54. Wakeland W, Cholette S, Venkat K. Food transportation issues and reducing carbon footprint, JI Boye and Y Arcand (eds.), Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing, Food Engineering Series, 2012. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1587-9_9,
  55. Poore J, Nemecek T. Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science. 2018 Jun 1; 360(6392):987-992. doi: 10.1126/science.aaq0216. Erratum in: Science. 2019 Feb 22;363(6429): PMID: 29853680.
  56. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. 2019. www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/
  57. Tan H. A Food Crisis Looms as Coronavirus Forces Farms to Stay Idle and Countries Hoard Supplies, 30 March 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-food-crisis-looms-as-farms-idle-countries-hoard-supplies.html

Figures:

Figure 1

Figure 1

Similar Articles

Recently Viewed

Read More

Most Viewed

Read More

Help ?