• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska March 14, 2023
U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse March 14, 2023
$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’ March 14, 2023
UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’ March 9, 2023
Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions March 9, 2023
Next
Prev

Pandemic Will Drive Global Famine Without Urgent Food System Reform

June 7, 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes
Full Story: Climate Home News @ClimateHome
Primary Author: Chloé Farand @ChloeFarand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_East_Africa_drought

Oxfam East Africa/Wikipedia

10
SHARES
 

The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing the risk of famine in the world’s poorest countries as it bankrupts small-hold farmers, breaks supply chains, and stymies efforts to build climate resilience, reports Climate Home News. If the worst of the disaster is to be averted, humanitarian systems need to change the way support is delivered, and “think differently” about everything from climate finance to food production.

In countries like Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, and Lesotho, efforts to improve extreme weather resilience are being hampered by pandemic-driven travel restrictions, while “patchy” Internet access prevents even virtual meetings, Climate Home explains. And as cyclone season looms on the Indian subcontinent, global aid workers are facing an unprecedented layering of crises.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“There has not been a moment in time when the world is faced with so many challenges,” said Sonam Wangdi, chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) negotiating bloc, during a recent online meeting. “Each of these incidents pushes us back many times more than the rest of the world.”

Getting funding to help combat these crises, however, is a “cumbersome” process in need of serious renovation, writes Climate Home. What is required, said Wangdi, is a “whole-society approach that incorporates climate action and sustainable development at the national and local level.” Last September, the 47 countries of the LDC committed to achieving “climate-resilient development pathways by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, providing they received the necessary support.” Full implementation of such climate action would require US$97 billion immediately from donor countries, and up to US$500 billion by 2050. Currently, LDCs receive about 0.6% of that funding. 

Also being revealed in the pandemic fallout: a lack of resiliency in global food systems. Climate Home reports that small-hold farmers in India and Bangladesh are reeling from being hit by major cyclones right on the tail of the first wave of COVID-19—and with markets locked down, the farmers are unable to sell even what crops survived. 

“Food is being wasted, as vegetables and grains are rotting unharvested in fields, livestock are being killed and buried, and milk is being thrown away,” writes Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator for ActionAid International. Facing bankruptcy, many farmers cannot afford the seeds to plant for next season. That’s leading to a vicious feedback loop in which agribusiness operations gobble up remaining smallholders as they fail, thereby “concentrating yet more wealth and land in fewer hands, and increasing the food system’s contribution and vulnerability to climate change.”

Together, these factors are leading us toward a global hunger crisis. To avoid famines of “biblical proportions,” countries must “seize this moment to fix our broken food system,” writes Anderson. That means moving away from “big, industrialized agribusiness” toward “agroecological practices that work with nature instead of against it, that are sustainable and climate resilient, and that safeguard the livelihoods of the people who grow our food.”

Short-term solutions include income support for farmers, cash and food transfers, school meals, and “public procurement policies that support smallholder farmers.” In the long term, however, larger reform is needed. 

“COVID-19 has witnessed a growing trend of smallholders selling directly to local customers, as people realize that short supply chains are less likely to be interrupted,” writes Anderson. “This approach can help food systems be more resilient to pandemics and better for the climate, while enabling farmers and local economies to thrive.”



in Africa, Asia, Community Climate Finance, COP Conferences, Demographics, Ending Emissions, Environmental Justice, Food Security & Agriculture, Health & Safety, India, International, International Agencies & Studies, Severe Storms & Flooding, Supply Chains & Consumption

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr
Oil & Gas

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
114
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr
Community Climate Finance

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
317
EcoAnalytics
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
123

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
317
Environmental Defence Canada/flickr

Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe

March 17, 2023
173
Rebecca Bollwitt/flickr

Fossils Stay ‘Oily’, Gibsons Sues Big Oil, U.S. Clean Energy Booms, EU Pushes Fossil Phaseout, and Fukushima Disaster was ‘No Accident’

March 14, 2023
175
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board/flickr

$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’

March 14, 2023
235
Behrat/Wikimedia Commons

Hawaii Firm Turns Home Water Heaters into Grid Batteries

March 14, 2023
439
Joshua Doubek/Wikipedia

No New Jobs Came from Alberta’s $4B ‘Job Creation’ Tax Cut for Big Oil

October 6, 2022
802

Recent Posts

U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
114
EcoAnalytics

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
123
Raysonho/wikimedia commons

Purolator Pledges $1B to Electrify Last-Mile Delivery

March 14, 2023
79
United Nations

UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’

March 10, 2023
94
Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions

March 10, 2023
185
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

First Nation Scorches Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Over Toxic Leak

March 8, 2023
374
Next Post
Team Rubicon/Twitter

Major U.S. Television Media Silent on Race-Based Risks of Extreme Weather

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}