Top 10 Things You Should Know about Food Security and Climate Change

World Food Day is just around the corner: October 16 will be a global day of action against hunger. This year’s World Food Day theme, “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too,” draws focus to the effects of climate change on global food security. As the world endures changes in temperature and precipitation, the projected state of global food security is concerning. According to the World Food Programme, food producers will need intensive labor support, including technological improvements, to avoid massive crop loss or even complete unavailability of cultivation. Key regions in Africa, China, the United States Great Plains and others are projected to experience extreme climate changes that will minimize the accessibility of food to distributors around the world.

Here are ten important things to know about the state of global food security and climate change:

1. The agricultural productivity losses due to increased temperature are estimated to induce hunger and malnutrition rates up 20 percent by 2050. (Source: World Food Programme)
2. Over one-third of food produced worldwide is wasted. That amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year. (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
3. Climate change is making climate disasters, such as floods and droughts, more frequent and intense, land and water more scarce and difficult to access, and increases in agricultural productivity even harder to achieve. (Source: World Food Programme)
4. According to the IPCC, crop yield declines of 10-25 percent may be prevalent by 2050 because of climate change. (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States)
5. As a result of climate change, two-thirds of the arable land in Africa could be lost by 2025. (Source: World Food Programme)
6. By 2030, climate change could push food prices up by 50-90 percent more than they would otherwise be expected to rise. (Source: World Food Programme)
7. Climate change puts millions of people’s lives at risk, and traps poor households in food insecurity and poverty. Climate shocks disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people at risk of hunger, especially women and children. The vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in fragile environments prone to climate hazards with which they cannot cope. When climate disasters strike, the situation of already vulnerable people can quickly deteriorate into a food and nutrition crisis. (Source: World Food Programme)
8. By 2050, we can expect 24 million more malnourished children as a result of climate change. Almost half of this increase, 10 million children, will be in sub-Saharan Africa. (Source: World Food Programme)
9. Hotter temperatures from climate change are expected to reduce catches of the world’s main fish species by 40 percent. (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States)
10. Agricultural production must rise by about 60% by 2050 in order to feed a larger population.  Climate change is putting this objective at risk (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States)