Food Security Problems to Arise in South Asia and Southern Africa
When we think of climate change and the negative effects it has on the world food security is often one of the last to be acknowledged, if it ever is. People are more than willing to acknowledge a humanitarian crisis, but the environment and humanitarian issues are not always collated.
A US research team led by David Lobell from the US-based Woods Institute for Environment at Stanford University, have published an article (PDF) in the latest edition of Science focusing on this link in South Asia and Southern Africa. The concerns are that with major agriculture industries making improvements to a crops ability to deal with climate change, some food stuffs will be left, figuratively and literally, out in the cold, or as the case may be, hot.
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The research studied statistical crop models and 20 climate projections for 2030. The researchers created a list of crops that would both suffer from regional climate changes, but were also being overlooked in terms of agricultural development. Among the lowest 5th percentile of 100 projections were the South Asia millet, groundnut and rapeseed, as well as Sahel sorghum and Southern African maize.
The equation for these results was found by multiplying the number of malnourished individuals by a crop’s percentage contribution to calorie intake. These crops have a strong reliance on rainfall, and historical evidence lends itself to this conclusion, especially in South Asia.
Naturally, when dealing with these regions, the data yield can sometimes be minimal, or inaccurate. Uncertainties such as these arose in the groups research in locations such as Central Africa where, according to Lobell, further research to develop adaptation strategies is needed.
Nevertheless the analysis shows a clear impact of climate change upon the crops in the South Asia and Southern African regions.
Others have chimed in with the publication of this study. Named a co-author of the study in Science, Marshall B. Burke believes that the need for increased and sustained attention on agricultural development in the developing world is great, but that is also “…one of the best things we can do for climate adaptation.”
Science and Development Network via ENN - African, Asian crops ‘to be hit hard by climate change
Photo Courtesy of World Resources Institute Staff via Flickr
[...] State University Food Security Problems to Arise in South Asia and Southern Africa » This Summary is from an article posted at EcoWorldly - International Environmental News for the [...]
as you say, it’s good to hear about scientific that makes the links between the environmental and social problems related to climate change. There does seem to be a tendency though - especially in ‘hard science’ type studies for Africa and South Asia to be places from which we extract data, figure out what should be done, and then provide a technological solution. No mention in the Science article of actual people living in these areas, just the “food-insecure”, whose subsistence crops are measured using the Hunger Impact Ratio. I wonder whether the authors have any awareness of how their work becomes positioned in a wider discourse of Western development of the Third World?
Also, it seems to me deeply ironic that when I read the summary of this post via bloglines it shares its space with a advertisement for “Jimmy Dean’s D-Lights Breakfast Sandwiches”. I’d hate for Eco-Worldly to be compromising their principles…
More here.