International Conference on Climate Change and Food Security (ICCCFS)

The papers presented at the International Conference on Food Security and Climate Change highlighted many daunting challenges facing agriculture’s capacity to meet the world’s food security needs over the next four decades. A series of occasional blog posts will attempt to summarize some of the key challenges that countries will face in the near future, and how these challenges are going to affect agriculture and food security. The first challenge addressed is the growing world population.

Food insecurity (malnutrition, undernourishment, famine, etc.) has many causes; the available food supply is only one contributing factor. Economists have pointed out that famine is as much a political and social issue as it is a production and supply issue. Case in point, the world population recently passed the 7 billion mark, and while we produce enough food to feed everyone, market failures (i.e. poor transportation infrastructure, trade barriers) prevent the adequate distribution of essential food-stuffs to millions of people. In fact, more than 21% of children under 5 are malnourished worldwide, with almost 14% of the 7 billion people suffering from undernourishment. There are many factors that contribute to food insecurity worldwide, such as poverty, climatic shocks, and political instability. The following examples illustrate how these factors have influenced food insecurity in the past. Continue reading →

This Voice of America article is by Joe DeCapua. It appeared on Dec. 2, 2011. 

Scientists say many of the long-term effects of rising temperatures are still unknown. They’re discussing the problem at the U.N. climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. Researchers say climate change is a complex mix of potential benefits and consequences, especially regarding food production.

In early November, researchers from several countries met in Beijing. They represented the so-called BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – as well as the United States and Indonesia. They discussed climate change and food security and agreed on a number of issues and recommendations to present to the Durban conference.

One of those researchers – Gerald Nelson – said they came up with a work program for climate change treaty negotiators. It concentrates on the role of agriculture.

“The advantage of the work program is that it puts these research findings about the importance of looking at climate change effects on agriculture – and also agriculture’s role in mitigation – directly into the record for delegates to look at,” he said.

Continue reading →