Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-6 (section)

==== 6.3.4.7 Food Production and Security ====

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Urban agriculture can serve as a NBS for food security ( ''medium evidence'' , ''medium agreement'' ) across a range of urban contexts ( [[#Lwasa--2015|Lwasa and Dubbeling, 2015]] ; Nogeire-McRae et al., 2018; Pourias, Aubry and Duchemin, 2016) by contributing to food provisioning as well as providing co-benefits including for recreation, place making and mental health (Petrovic et al., 2019; Soga, Gaston and Yamaura, 2017; Goldstein et al., 2016b).

Urban agriculture among poorer communities in lower income areas is already an important source of food supply for those communities, contributing to food security and health (Orsini et al., 2013). However, potential for expanding open air urban food production may be practically constrained by land availability ( [[#Badami--2015|Badami and Ramankutty, 2015]] ; Martellozzo et al., 2014). This is particularly true in some lower-income countries where rapid urbanisation is occurring, which compounds existing food insecurity (Satterthwaite, McGranahan and Tacoli, 2010; Vermeiren et al., 2013). Land availability and suitability for gardens can be further constrained by land use history, including past industrial uses that can contaminate soils with pollutants such as lead.

At the same time, investments in vertical agriculture continue to expand, such as in Singapore where private investment in food production is occurring in high rise buildings (Wong, Wood and Paturi, 2020). Not all cities can benefit similarly from vertical agriculture since higher heating costs to produce vegetables indoors during northern winters consumes considerable amounts of energy and may generate fossil fuel emissions depending on the energy source (Goldstein et al., 2016a; Mohareb et al., 2017). Some regions can benefit from more traditional outdoor urban farming, such as in South and Southeast Asia, which can support multiple growing cycles per year for some crops, particularly in tropical areas where irrigation is available. Light availability, soil health and water availability will impact food production in urban areas. For example, a study conducted in Vancouver, Canada, demonstrated that light attenuation from buildings and trees can reduce both crop yield and water demand for crop growth (Johnson et al., 2015).

Climate change may have important impacts on urban food production and food security. While urban agriculture may provide benefits in terms of stability of food access in low-income households in some regions of the Global South where the climate is warmer, the shorter growing seasons in colder climates will reduce the role of outdoor urban agriculture in year-round food supply and diets. Though urban agriculture constitutes a small fraction of total food consumption in some urban areas, several studies have attempted to estimate the extent to which urban agriculture could theoretically meet urban total food or vegetable demand ( [[#Badami--2015|Badami and Ramankutty, 2015]] ; [[#McClintock--2014|McClintock, 2014]] ; Hara et al., 2018). Maximising the adaptation and resilience benefits of NBS for food production and security suggests the need to embrace the multi-functionality of urban agriculture, rather than viewing it as solely concerning food production (Barthel, Parker and Ernstson, 2015).

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