The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) has called for a fundamental reform of food systems to avoid “unprecedented hunger”, following a new report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
IPES-Food stated that scientists are warning of increasing climate change threats to ecosystems, crop yields, land degradation, farming systems and ultimately food security.
Due to the impacts of climate change, agricultural productivity growth has slowed by 21%, and it is foreseen that 34% of current crop land could be unsuitable for food production by 2100, the IPCC found.
Co-chair of IPES-Food and United Nation special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, in Belgium, said:
“In the face of rising temperatures, malnutrition, biodiversity loss and increasing health inequalities, there is virtually unanimous agreement that fundamental transformation of our food systems is needed.
“We urgently need to move towards more diverse and localised food production that is less polluting and more resilient.”
The IPCC report found that extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts and floods are exposing millions of people to acute food insecurity. Between 8-80 million more people could face hunger especially in sub-saharan Africa, south Asia and central America by 2050, according to IPES-Food.
Smallholder farmers, pastoralists, indigenous people and fishing communities face higher exposure to climate impacts, the report stated, according to the expert panel.
Unsustainable agricultural expansion and unbalanced diets are increasing vulnerability to climate impacts and creating resource competition, IPES-Food said the report found.
People living in poverty are most vulnerable to be hit first and the hardest by a crisis “they did not cause”.
De Schutter added:
“Transforming our agriculture is now urgent – governments must act to support local communities’ efforts to feed themselves and encourage resilience through diversity, not uniformity.”
Changes in food production – including farm and landscape diversification and urban agriculture – need to address social inequalities to make food systems more resilient, the expert panel said the report stated. Cultivar improvement, agroforestry and community-based adaptation were also called for.
Diverse agroecological farming with nature, IPES-Food stated, supports food security, livelihoods and biodiversity, as well as mitigates temperature extremes and helps to sequester carbon, according to the report.
Co-chair of IPES-Food, Olivier De Schutter said a “major turnaround” in carbon emissions and farming practices is needed, otherwise mass crop failures and the “collapse of our fragile food system” is likely to happen.
Lim Li Ching, IPES-Food expert in Malaysia, said:
“Continuing with agribusiness as usual is enriching a small minority at the expense of the climate, biodiversity and the world’s poorest people, and farmers who did least to cause the problems.”
Mamadou Goita, IPES-Food expert in Mali stated that small farmers in west Africa are already impacted by the climate crisis including rising temperatures, droughts and depleted resources, which make it harder to feed communities.
“Smallholder farmers are critical for food security in many countries across the globe. They are doing everything they can to adapt, but they need more support from governments and access to climate finance,” the IPES-Food expert in Mali concluded.