Impacts on Food Security and Adaptation Options

Food security and adaptation

Prof Mark Howden

Vice Chair Working Group II

Australian National University

Climate changes affecting crops differently

IPCC 2014

More negative and less positive over time

IPCC 2014

Climate changes affecting crops differently

Climate change impacts on Pacific crops

Bell and Taylor 2015

Yield variability likely to increase

IPCC 2014

Food value chains: storage

• Increased need for postharvest drying,

refrigeration etc

• Potential shorter shelf life of perishable products

due to changes in product composition

• Local level: Farmers individual and collective

storage infrastructures

– flexible and cost-effective storage systems

• Global level: ongoing consideration of governance

options for food reserves

Rivera-Ferre (2014)

Value chain: distribution and exchange

• Damage to infrastructures (heat stress on roads,

increased frequency of floods)

• Ports damaged by flooding, extreme events:

fisheries, trade

• Decline in local production (or increased variability

in this) may reduce household capacity to engage

in traditional forms of exchange

• At the regional, national, global level, trade remains

a major factor in managing projected food security

issues

– institutional issues will continue to need attention

through WTO and other mechanisms

– shipping

IPCC 2014

Impacts, adaptation and barriers

“Barriers include access to

financial, technological, and

human resources; cultural and

social acceptability; political

and legal frameworks; the

emphasis on island

development as opposed to

sustainability; a focus on short-

term climate variability rather

than long-term climate change;

and community preferences for

‘hard’ adaptation measures

rather than ‘soft’ ones”

IPCC 2014

Thankyou

Prof Mark Howden

ANU Climate Change Institute

mark.howden@anu.edu.au

+61 2 6125 7266

Vice Chair, IPCC Working Group II

Dimensions of food security

FOOD SECURITY

Accessibility

Availability

Utilisation

Stability

FAO, GECAFS

Food availability is determined by the physical quantities of

food produced, stored, processed, distributed, and exchanged