Food supply must be top priority amid climate change

The topic of climate change mitigation and adaptation was high on the agenda at last week’s spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, amid concerns about the growing impact of climate disruption on the world’s ability to feed all countries. people.

According to the Associated Press, 2.7 million people in Zimbabwe are at risk of starvation due to drought that has persisted since last fall. Zambia, in northern Zimbabwe, is facing a similar rainfall shortage, which is also threatening food supplies and forcing the country’s president to declare a national emergency for the first time in 40 years. With water levels so low that hydropower, the country’s main source of electricity, could shut down, utility customers will be forced to go without power for eight hours a day for the next two months.

Food shortages can have knock-on effects, causing instability within countries and leading to mass migration, affecting neighboring countries. An International Monetary Fund working paper released in December found that 184 million people currently live outside their country of origin. “Climate events impact countries’ liveability and income productivity and are expected to exacerbate the effects of other drivers of population movement and migration such as poverty, demographics or political instability in the future,” the report said.

Because agriculture emits large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to 25 to 30 percent of global warming, there is a vicious cycle in which current agricultural practices exacerbate climate problems and, in turn, food insecurity.

Breaking this cycle requires farmers to adopt more sustainable methods that adapt to a changing climate and absorb more carbon than they release. For example, in Guntur, India, farmers practicing natural farming had their crops spared from storms that flooded and destroyed the crops of other nearby farmers because their soil could hold more water.

More water isn’t the only thing the soil can hold through sustainable farming methods. By switching to low- or no-till agriculture and planting cover crops, farmers can sequester carbon in the soil and become part of the solution to climate change.

However, farmers face many challenges in the transition to sustainable, climate-resilient agriculture. While crop rotation and diversification are good for soil and climate, abandoning concentration on profitable crops can pose risks to incomes. Farmers accustomed to using pesticides and chemical fertilizers to increase crop yields may also be reluctant to give up these tools and sacrifice short-term gains for long-term sustainability. The transition period can come with the cost of new equipment and a temporary loss of crop yields.

All of these challenges point to the need for financial support to help farmers shift to more sustainable practices. The good news is that the World Bank – the largest funder of international development programs – is well aware of the synergistic links between food, climate change and stability and is already funding climate-smart agriculture.

Projects supported by the World Bank include:

However, more projects and the resources to implement them are needed to meet the challenges of the global transition to climate-smart agriculture. More players, financial institutions and stakeholders must be brought together to pool resources and provide technical support to tackle this daunting task. Future food finance needs to address and expand the non-financial value embedded in food production practices. This week, the Good Food Finance Network released its “Blueprint for Integrating Data Systems” as part of a broader effort to build a global co-investment platform for resilient, inclusive, sustainable food systems.

Governments and multilateral institutions must expand support for climate-smart agriculture, which is needed to achieve sustainable expansion of food production, increase resilience to climate-related shocks, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate the impacts of climate change. Sustainable, climate-resilient, and affordable food is not only necessary for human nutrition and well-being, but also for sustaining economies and nation-states. Now is the time to ensure we reduce risks and build the resilience of food systems in all countries and regions.

Joe Robertson is the executive director of Citizens for Climate International, an organization dedicated to helping citizens and governments around the world work on climate solutions.