May 22, 2014

Climate change poses severe risks to global food security

editor:	Murat Suner

The study "Advancing Global Food Security in the Face of a Changing Climate", released today on a high-level in Washington D.C., is the first to examine the effects of the slow-motion collapse of the Western Antarctica ice sheet on future food security reports the Guardian. It references to two independent studies on climate change stating that Western Antarctica ice sheet was unstoppable and could lead to sea-level rise of up to four metres over the coming centuries. Rising sea levels would displace millions of people from low-lying coastal areas like Bangladesh, Vietnam or Egypt affecting major agricultural areas.

By 2050 world population will need 60% more food. However, in terms of absolute land loss, China would be at risk of losing more than 3 million hectares. Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar could lose more than 1 million hectares, the report said.

The increasing agricultural yields of the last 50 years have already slowed down or plateaued – even before climate change is taken into account. By mid-century, those declines will make it increasingly difficult for farmers to maintain the increases in crop yields needed to feed a growing population, concludes Suzanne Goldenberg in the Guardian.