Crop Failures and Famine
Human-caused global warming is causing increasingly extreme heat, floods, droughts, and weather events that is putting our food supply in danger.
In a warmer world, water is a critical resource. Climate change will shift precipitation patterns, causing drought in some regions and floods in others. Most of the world's breadbaskets are headed in the drier direction.
Read a roundup of the headlines below:
“Martin Frick told the BBC that some of the most deprived areas had now reached a tipping point of having “zero” harvests left, as extreme weather was pushing already degraded land beyond use.
He said that as a result, parts of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were now dependent on humanitarian aid.
Mr. Frick warned that without efforts to reverse land degradation globally, richer countries would also begin to suffer crop failures.
The Global Environment Facility estimates that 95% of the world’s land could become degraded by 2050. The UN says that 40% is already degraded…
Soil is the second largest carbon sink after the oceans, and is recognised by the UN as a key tool for mitigating climate change.
Land degradation can be caused by modern farming techniques removing organic content from soil, but also prolonged droughts interspersed with sudden, extreme rainfall.”
BBC, UN food chief: Poorest areas have zero harvests left
“The world is likely to face major disruption to food supplies well before temperatures rise by the 1.5C target, the president of the UN’s desertification conference has warned, as the impacts of the climate crisis combine with water scarcity and poor farming practices to threaten global agriculture.
Alain-Richard Donwahi, a former Ivory Coast defence minister who led last year’s UN Cop15 summit on desertification, said the effects of drought were taking hold more rapidly than expected.
“Climate change is a pandemic that we need to fight quickly. See how fast the degradation of the climate is going – I think it’s going even faster than we predicted,” he said. “Everyone is fixated on 1.5C [above pre-industrial levels], and it’s a very important target. But actually, some very bad things could happen, in terms of soil degradation, water scarcity and desertification, way before 1.5C.’”
The Guardian, Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert
Seven years ago, world leaders committed to a highly ambitious target: ending hunger by 2030. That goal is now more distant than ever. The United Nations estimates that the number of people in “hunger emergencies” – just one step away from famine – has jumped from 135 million in 2019 to 345 million. This week the UN humanitarian chief warned that famine is “at the door” in Somalia. Across the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa, 22 million are at risk of starvation. Almost a third of Pakistan is underwater, and as much as four-fifths of its livestock have died. In southern China, drought and a heatwave are putting crops at risk. These follow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected supplies from two major exporters, and sent energy and fertiliser prices soaring.
The Guardian, The Guardian view on the global food crisis: this is just the beginning
“Shortages of some fresh fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers could be the “tip of the iceberg”, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.
Certain products are hard to come by in UK supermarkets due to poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and north Africa, Brexit rules and lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses.
The NFU’s deputy president, Tom Bradshaw, said a reliance on imports had left the UK particularly exposed to “shock weather events”.
He said the UK had now “hit a tipping point” and needed to “take command of the food we produce” amid “volatility around the world” caused by the war in Europe and the climate crisis.”
The Guardian, Vegetable shortages in UK could be ‘tip of iceberg’, says farming union
“Climate change is deepening hunger in 10 of the world's worst climate hotspots: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe. These countries – which had the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events – have repeatedly been battered by extreme weather over the last two decades. Today, 48 million people across those countries suffer acute hunger (up from 21 million in 2016), and 18 million people of them are on the brink of starvation.
For millions of people already pummeled down by ongoing conflict, widening inequalities, and economic crises, repeated climate shocks are becoming a backbreaker. The onslaught of climate disasters is now outpacing poor people’s ability to cope, pushing them deeper into severe hunger.
Meanwhile, as humanity faces this existential crisis, the biggest polluting countries continue to make extraordinary wealth: the oil and gas industry has amassed $2.8 billion per day in profits for each of the last 50 years. Less than 18 days of those profits would cover the entire $48.82 billion UN humanitarian appeal for 2022.
Oxfam is calling for rich polluting nations to immediately inject lifesaving funds to meet the UN appeal. To stop the next climate crisis, they must also drastically cut their emissions, guarantee adequate climate financing to help poor people adapt, and above all compensate low-income countries impacted by the climate crisis.”
Oxfam, HUNGER IN A HEATING WORLD: How the climate crisis is fuelling hunger in an already hungry world
“Climate change is already causing famine.
The Horn of Africa is currently in the grip of one of the worst hunger crises of the last 70 years, and global warming has a direct impact on this catastrophe, as rising temperatures mean the region’s also suffering one of the most devastating droughts in decades. Millions of people’s lives are currently at risk due to failed harvests, mass livestock deaths and water shortages.
As this unfolding disaster demonstrates, the climate emergency and starvation are linked. After all, you can’t farm arid, infertile or flooded land, and extreme weather patterns are making it harder for farmers to produce food all over the world. The problem is worse in the Global South, however, where the climate is already hotter.”
Politico, The climate crisis is a hunger crisis
“The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources says that farmers across the state are struggling with this year’s drought. Many have reported significant crop losses or seen their hay fields dry up.
Mohammad Hannan, who farms on 7 acres in Lincoln, says he’s lost more than half an acre of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and beans so far.
“All that stuff is basically gone,” he says. “So it’s a big, big loss.”
Luckily for him, he has other full-time work. He knows others are not so fortunate.
“If I did not have another job, I would be in real trouble right now. So I can imagine for the other farmers who are doing it full time, they are really struggling.’”
WBUR, 'Flash droughts' and weather 'whiplash.' Welcome to New England’s climate future
“A drought in China is threatening food production, prompting the government to order local authorities to take all available measures to ensure crops survive the hottest summer on record.
On Tuesday, four government departments issued an urgent joint emergency notice, warning that the autumn harvest was under “severe threat”. It urged local authorities to ensure “every unit of water … be used carefully”, and called for methods included staggered irrigation, the diversion of new water sources, and cloud seeding.
A record-breaking heatwave combined with a months-long drought during the usual flood season has wreaked havoc across China’s usually water-rich south. It has dried up parts of the Yangtze River and dozens of tributaries, drastically affecting hydropower capacity and causing rolling blackouts and power rationing as demand for electricity spikes. There is now concern about future food supply.”
The Guardian, China issues alert as drought and heatwave put crops at risk
“The toll of extreme flooding on Pakistan’s food security is becoming apparent: large swathes of farmland under water, crops and stockpiles washed away, homes and livelihoods wiped out.
The government warned that a food crisis is looming. Rains and deadly floods have damaged rice and cotton crops, along with vegetables like onions and tomatoes. They also threaten wheat planting in the coming months at a time when the world can ill afford another disruption to grain supply.
Pakistan, among the most vulnerable globally to climate change, has seen the highest rainfall in at least three decades. About a third of the country is currently flooded, the government estimates, and about 1,200 people have lost their lives. Around 40% of the labor force rely on agriculture for employment, while the sector represents about a fifth of the economy.
“The agricultural sector is in turmoil. The cotton crop and vegetables are completely wiped out in many key areas,” said Pakistan Businesses Forum Vice President Ahmad Jawad, who grows wheat, maize, citrus and sugarcane. “Wild weather just can’t give us a break. First the heat wave, now floods.’”
Bloomberg, Deadly Floods Inundate Farms in Pakistan, Flushing Away Crops
More reading
The Texas Tribune, Texas’ cotton industry is facing its worst harvest in years — costing the state more than $2 billion
Hutch News, Wheat conditions: Season likely a loss
The Guardian, Climate crisis could contribute to a global food shortage by 2050, US special envoy on food security warns | Agriculture
Mongabay, Climate change, extreme weather & conflict exacerbate global food crisis