Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-5 (section)

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

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=== FAQ 5.1: How is climate change (already) affecting people’s ability to have enough nutritious food? ===

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''Climate change has already made feeding the world’s people more difficult. Climate-related hazards have become more common, disrupting the supply of crops, meat and fish. Rapid changes in weather patterns have put financial strain on producers, while also raising prices and limiting the choices and quality of produce available to consumers.''

Most of our food comes from crops, livestock, aquaculture and fisheries. Global food supply increased dramatically in the last century, but ongoing climate change has begun to slow that growth, reducing the gains that would have been expected without climate change. Regionally, negative effects are apparent in regions closer to the equator, with some positive effects further north and south.

Climate impacts are also negatively affecting the quality of produce, from changes in micronutrient content to texture, colour and taste changes that reduce marketability. With warmer and more humid condition, many food pests thrive, food decays more quickly, and food contains more toxic compounds produced by fungi and bacteria.

Warming of the oceans has reduced potential fish catch. The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has led to ocean acidification, which is already impacting the production of farmed fish and shellfish. Changes in local climate have forced producers to shift to new locations, changing what they grow or where they work (e.g., pole-ward shifting fishing grounds).

Climate hazards have increased over the past 50 years and are the major cause of sudden losses of production (food production shocks). Food shocks occur following droughts, heatwaves, floods, storms and outbreaks of climate-related pests and combine to cause multiplying impacts. Climate hazards sometimes disrupt food storage and transport, which impairs the food supply.

All of these negative impacts can lead to increased food prices, and reduced income for producers and retailers as there are fewer products to sell. Together, these impacts threaten to reduce the supply of varied, nutrient-rich foods to poor populations that already suffer ill health.

[[File:778d65be93c93c179a66277214eee8bc IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_5_FAQ_5_1_1.png]]

'''Figure FAQ5.1.1 |''' ''' Trends in food production shocks in different food supply sectors from 1961 to 2013 (Cottrell et al.''' ''', 2019).''' The red lines in the time series are the annual shock frequency, and the dashed line is the decadal mean.

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=== FAQ 5.2: How will climate change impact food availability by mid and late century and who will suffer most? ===

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''Climate change impacts will worsen over time, with the period after mid-century seeing more rapid growth in negative impact than in the early part of this century. The impacts will be global, but people with fewer resources, and those who live in regions where impacts will worsen more rapidly, will be hurt the most.''

Climate change impacts will worsen over time, but the extent depends on how rapidly greenhouse-gas emissions grow. If the current rate of emissions continues, the impacts will worsen, especially after mid-century, with rapid growth in the number and severity of extreme weather events. Yields of plants, animals and aquaculture will decline in most places, and marine and inland fisheries will suffer. Food production in some regions will become impossible, either because the crops or livestock there cannot survive in the new climatic conditions, or it is too hot and humid for farm workers to be in the fields.

After harvest, agricultural production passes through the agricultural value chain, supplying animal feeds, industrial uses and international markets, with some stored for use in the future. Each of these transitions will be affected by climate change. Food storage facilities will face more challenges in dealing with spoilage. Transportation of perishable fruits, vegetables and meats will become costlier to maintain quality. Households and food services will need to spend more on food preservation.

Low-income countries and poor people are at higher risk, as they have limited social safety nets and suffer more from rising food prices and an unstable food supply. But large famers will also be hurt. Rural communities, especially smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fishers, are extremely vulnerable because their livelihoods mainly depend on their production. The urban poor will have to spend more on food.

A flood, for example, may force low-income families out of their homes, affect their employment and reduce their access to food supplies, with prices often rising after natural disasters. Families will have less access to safe water supplies, and this combination of lower food supplies, uncertain employment, displacement from home and rising food costs will increase the number of children who are undernourished.

[[File:f6b65e8635e266ca91f14ed1da348684 IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_5_FAQ_5_2_1.png]]

'''Figure FAQ5.2.1 |''' ''' Impacts of climate change on the food system.'''

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=== FAQ 5.3: Land is going to be an important resource for mitigating climate change: how is the increasing competition for land threatening global food security and who will be affected the most? ===

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''Climate change will affect food production. Meeting future food needs requires greater land shares unless we change what we eat and how we grow food. Additionally, large-scale land projects that aim to mitigate climate change will increase land competition. Less land will then be available for food production, increasing food insecurity. People at greater risk from land competition are smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples and low-income groups.''

Why is land important?

Land is a limited resource on which humans and ecosystems depend on to grow plants, which capture carbon dioxide and release oxygen, and provide food, timber and other products. We also have cultural, recreational and spiritual connections to land.

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'''Figure FAQ5.3.1 |''' ''' Climate impacts will increase competition for land use, reducing coastal land for crops and affecting food security for vulnerable groups.''' Adaptation methods like coastal aquaculture and mangrove reforestation reduce climate effects but may increase land competition.

Why will climate change affect land use?

Climate change results in more frequent heatwaves, extreme rainfall, drought and rising sea levels, which negatively affect crop yields. More land is thus needed to grow crops, increasing land competition with other food systems that use crops to feed their animals (e.g., livestock, fish). Where land will be flooded, humans cannot grow crops, but food production could be adapted to grow seafood instead. Extensive land allocations aiming at reducing carbon emissions, such as afforestation, reduce land availability for food. Unless carefully managed, competition for land will increase food prices and food security.

Solutions to reduce land competition and protect food security

Sustainable land management allows land to remain productive and support key functions. Other land practices include growing cover crops to improve soil quality. Governments can provide incentives to producers to grow alternative foods and use sustainable practices. Making sure that vulnerable groups (e.g., low-income communities, Indigenous people and small-scale producers) strengthen land tenure rights will help protect food security.

Food by-products used as alternative food sources and other products reduce waste and increase sustainability. Dietary changes are another important solution. People that eat high amounts of meat or unhealthy foods could reduce consumption of these foods and have more diverse diets. These dietary changes will benefit their health and reduce pressure on land. Regulated labelling, education and other policies which encourage healthy diets can support these shifts.

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=== FAQ 5.4: What are effective adaptation strategies for improving food security in a warming world? ===

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''A variety of adaptation options exist to improve food security in a warming world. Examples of adaptation for crop production include crop management and livelihood diversification. For livestock-based systems, an example is matching number of animals with the production capacity of pastures. For fisheries, eliminating overfishing is an effective adaptation practice. For mixed cropping and nature-based systems, an appropriate adaptation is agroforestry.''

Adaptation strategies to enhance food security vary from farm-level interventions to national policies and international agreements. They cover the following dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilisation (food quality and safety) and stability.

For the production of crops, adaptation strategies include field and farm-level options such as crop management, livelihood diversification and social protection such as crop insurance. The most common field management options are changes in planting schedules, crop varieties, fertilizers and irrigation. For example, farmers can shift their planting schedules in response to the early or late onset of the rainy season. Moreover, there are new crop insurance schemes that are based on changes in weather patterns.

For livestock-based systems, adaptation options include matching the number of animals with the production capacity of pastures; adjusting water management based on seasonal and spatial patterns of forage production; managing animal diet; more effective use of fodder, rotational grazing; fire management to control woody thickening of grass; using more suitable livestock breeds or species; migratory pastoralist activities; and activities to monitor and manage the spread of pests, weeds and diseases.

For ocean and inland fisheries, adaptation options are primarily concentrated in the socioeconomic dimension and governance and management. In general, eliminating overfishing could help rebuild fish stocks, reduce ecosystem impacts, and increase fishing’s adaptive capacity. Aquaculture is often viewed as an adaptation option for fisheries declines. However, there are adaptation strategies specific to aquaculture, including proper species selections at the operational level, such as the cultivation of brackish species (shrimp, crabs) in inland ponds during dry seasons and rice–freshwater finfish in wetter seasons.

For so-called mixed farming systems that produce a combination of crops, livestock, fish and trees, these systems’ inherent diversity provides a solid platform for adaptation. A good example is agroforestry, the purposeful integration of trees or shrubs with crop or livestock systems, which increases resilience against climate risks.

Overall, nature-based systems or ecosystem-based strategies in food systems, such as agroecology, can be a useful adaptation method to increase wild and cultivated food sources. Agroecological practices include agroforestry, intercropping, increasing biodiversity, crop and pasture rotation, adding organic amendments, integration of livestock into mixed systems, cover crops and minimising toxic and synthetic inputs with adverse health and environmental impacts.

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=== FAQ 5.5: Climate change is not the only factor threatening global food security: other than climate action, what other actions are needed to end hunger and ensure access by all people to nutritious and sufficient food all year round? ===

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''Our food systems depend on many factors other than climate change, such as food production, water, land, energy and biodiversity. People’s access to healthy food can be also be affected by factors such as poverty and physical insecurity. We are all stakeholders in food systems, whether as producers or consumers, and we can all contribute to the goal of a food-secure world by the choices we make in our everyday lives.''

Today more than 820 million people are hungry, and hunger is on the rise in Africa. Two billion people experience moderate or severe food shortages, and another 2 billion suffer from overnutrition, a state of obesity or being overweight from unbalanced diets, with related health impacts such as diabetes and heart disease. The changing climate is already affecting food production. These effects are worsening, affecting food production from crops, livestock, fish and forests in many places where people already do not have enough to eat. Food prices will be affected as a result, with increasing risk that poorer people will not be able to buy enough for their families. Food quality will increasingly be affected too.

Our ability to grow and consume food depends on many factors other than climate change. There are tight connections between food production, water, land, energy and biodiversity, for example. Other factors like gender inequity, poverty, political exclusion, remoteness from urban centres and physical insecurity can all affect people’s access to healthy food.

Food systems are complicated '''(''' Figure FAQ5.5.1). To improve food production, supply and distribution, we need to make changes throughout the food supply chain. For instance: improving the way farmers access the inputs needed to grow food; improving the ways in which food is grown, with climate and market information, training and technical know-how, water-saving and water-harvesting technologies; adopting new low-cost and less carbon-intensive storage and processing methods; and creating local networks of producers and processors For food consumers, we could consider shifts to different diets that are healthier and make more efficient use of natural resources; depending on context, these could involve rebalancing consumption of meat and highly processed foods, reducing food loss and waste, and preparing food in more energy-efficient ways. Policymakers can enable such actions through appropriate price and trade policies, implementing policies for sustainable and low-emission agriculture, providing safety nets where needed, and empowering women, youth and other socially disadvantaged groups.

[[File:894edcc911e0a921519ed5518c9109e8 IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_5_FAQ_5_5_1.png]]

'''Figure FAQ5.5.1 |''' '''Conceptual framework of food systems for diets and nutrition (modified from [[#HLPE--2017a|HLPE, 2017a]] ).'''

Our food systems need to be robust and sustainable; otherwise we will not be able to manage the additional pressures imposed on them by climate change. We can all contribute to this goal.

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