A 2022 report by the International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) Global Food Policy has shown that climate change remains a major threat to world food systems.
The report, which is a peer-reviewed publication with the theme, “Climate Change and Food Systems”, showed that the impact has grim implications for food and nutrition security, livelihoods, and overall well-being, especially for poor and vulnerable people around the world.
It stressed the need for urgent action on climate change both to achieve the major emissions reductions needed to limit global warming and to increase the adaptive capacity and resilience of food systems is drawing global attention.
The IFPRI report further advocated that for food systems policies that create better market incentives, strengthen regulation and institutions and fund Research and Development (R&D), climate-resilient technologies and practices are needed to catalyze and accelerate climate action.
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In his reaction, the Director-General, IFPRI Global Director, Systems Transformation, Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), Johan Swinnen, said that this year’s Global Food Policy Report on food systems transformation and climate change echoes the sombre warning issued by recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.
He explained that as the world continues to degrade the environment and, “push beyond our planetary boundaries, “we are entering a Code Red for Humanity. Food systems are inseparably linked to this unprecedented crisis, which threatens the food security, nutrition, and health of billions of people.”
“Our food systems are not only severely impacted by climate change, requiring an urgent focus on adaption, but also play a role in causing about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with two-thirds of that resulting from agriculture, forestry, and other land use,” he was quoted as saying.
He stressed that while Investing in food systems transformation remains a key piece of the climate change puzzle, it is vastly underfunded, with only a small part of climate finance directed toward this goal.
Story was adapted from Thisday.
