On 25 May 2022 a briefing featured experts from the UN, civil society, and churches who discussed crucial updates on the global food crisis and food security with participants from the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance, regional and national councils of churches, and others working on agriculture, food, and humanitarian assistance. The INERELA+ Acting Executive Director Munya Mandipaza attended to the briefing session.
KEY TAKE AWAYS
- Poverty, more than any other factor, determines vulnerability to climate change and limits adaptive capacity. Existing gender inequalities combined with poverty magnify women’s vulnerability to climate change and undermine their ability to adapt.
- Climate change is a threat multiplier for hunger, destroying livelihoods, driving displacement, widening social inequalities, and undermining sustainable development.
- The number of extreme weather-related disasters has doubled. Harvests have decreased, and food prices have risen as a result. The climate crisis is fuelling the hunger crisis, and with our food systems more global than ever, we all stand to lose.
- Higher temperatures, water scarcity, droughts, floods, and greater CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere affect staple crops around the world. Corn and wheat production has declined in recent years due to extreme weather events, plant diseases, and a global water crisis.
- If climate change reduces the amount of food produced, then it makes sense that it also reduces the amount of food people can access. This simple instance of supply-and-demand, however, has big impacts. If one part of the food system is interrupted due to a climate event (big or small), that can lead to inflation. We’ve seen this happen over the last two years after international trade was suspended due to COVID-19. Price spikes leave the poorest families most vulnerable.
- Climate change affects the global food system in such a way that those who already suffer from hunger and undernutrition are those most vulnerable to losing more as the climate crisis continues. In order “to end hunger” — one of our top Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030 — we need to address the causes of climate change, particularly at the governmental and policy levels. We also need to prioritize climate justice to support the communities on the frontlines of the crisis, communities that often contribute very little to greenhouse gas emissions