The US-British Taskforce on Extreme Weather & Global Food System Resilience said severe food shortages, market volatility and price increases will likely to occur at an exorbitantly higher rate of every thirty years by 2040. It follows a warning last month by a UK foreign minister that climate change poses a risk equivalent to nuclear weapons, in part because of its impact on food security. In the event that the frequently-modifying climate influences the variability of agricultural productions through the years, this signifies that the costs of the goods may face instabilities within seasons and that the foundations of the food system may be induced to prolonged challenges.
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This is why the report advised countries not to limit export if faced with extreme weather.
Global food production in North and South America and Asia will absorb the shock of climate change effects.
While greater interconnectedness reduces countries’ vulnerability to local production shocks, it may perversely increase vulnerability to large shocks in distant so-called “breadbasket” regions.
Globalization and new technologies have made the world’s food system more efficient but it has also become less resilient to risks, said King.
Drop of 5-7% in production of the world’s four major crops- corns, soy, rice and wheat – is called as a food shock. But given the current strain on the food supply and increasingly extreme weather, the experts predict that it could happen as often as once per generation, roughly every 30 years. This particular report warns that there will be an increase in extreme weather events such as severe heat waves, droughts, and floods. On top of that we have climate change affecting where we can grow things.
The report also pinpointed what it referred to as “kneejerk” reactions to food shortages as a long-term problem.
Report co-author Dr Aled Jones, who is also director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, said governments needed to step up efforts to avoid “catastrophic” impacts from climate change.
To prevent or at least ease the pain from such shocks, food-producing nations are urged not to impose export restrictions as Russian Federation did in 2010 after a poor harvest, Reuters notes.
With demand for food projected to increase by 60 percent from now to 2050, there’s a growing need to reverse the yield declines while increasing production and reducing the environmental impacts of crop production, the researchers said.
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The UK, which imports around 40% of food, was less directly exposed to production shocks as more consumption of processed food meant the price of basic commodities was not so significant and the country was richer, the report said.
