As multiple pressing disasters threaten the world’s food systems, it’s time that climate change, desertification, and water scarcity are treated as interlinked issues and addressed with equal urgency, says United Nations expert Alain-Richard Donwahi.
“For a couple of years, reducing emissions has been the pressing matter,” Donwahi, a Côte d’Ivoire politician who led the 2022 COP summit on desertification, told The Energy Mix. “But today, people have started realizing that desertification and water scarcity must be taken into consideration equally.”
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That means the climate emergency “can’t be singled out—climate change must be answered with a holistic approach.”
Donwahi said the UN offices for climate change, biodiversity, and desertification will be issuing a joint statement to emphasize the need for an integrated response to these issues.
Earlier this month, he told the Guardian that global food supplies are likely to be disrupted well before global temperatures rise above the 1.5°C target that forms the centrepiece of global climate policy.
“Everyone is fixated on 1.5°C [above pre-industrial levels], and it’s a very important target,” he said. “But actually, some very bad things could happen, in terms of soil degradation, water scarcity, and desertification, way before 1.5°C.”
Since the impacts of climate change transcend borders, “everybody is in the same boat [on food security],” he added. But developing countries are more exposed, with most of them located in the tropics, where extreme weather conditions and natural disasters are even more likely. The Global South is also more vulnerable because it has fewer resources at its disposal—to adapt to climate change, and to protect people.
But in the Global North, as well, adverse effects on the food system are already being reported. In the United States, volatile climate—such as extreme heat and drought followed by untimely rain—led to poor wheat harvests in Kansas, while hurricanes and bacterial diseases have caused a “dramatic decline” in orange crops. Canada is experiencing its own calamities as farmers struggle with drought, and as salmon stocks are threatened by rising sea levels and high temperatures.
In Europe’s Mediterranean region, heatwaves are shrinking harvests of olives and other produce, which will in turn affect food imports to countries like the United Kingdom. The UK National Farmers Union (NFU) has called on the British government to take national food security more seriously and emphasize self-sufficiency.
“I have never known such volatility in the global food system,” said NFU President Minette Batters.
Climate change is a driver of that volatility, but so are desertification and water scarcity— issues that get less attention but intersect strongly with agriculture. All three are addressed at the global level through COP conferences, but the climate COP gets most of the spotlight, while last year’s desertification COP was largely overlooked, the Guardian says.
Poor land use practices must also be addressed, Donwahi said. Soil degradation comes from bad habits, he noted, and the way we carry out agriculture plays a big role. “When the soil is affected, the yield is affected,” he explained.
Reports show that only 4.3% of climate finance goes to food and agriculture, and less than 1% of tracked investment is spent on food loss, waste, and low-carbon diets. Donwahi said it will take a broader pool of investment to address those issues.
“The private sector has an interest in agriculture, and the better usage of the soil,” he said. “We’re talking about [improving] yields. We’re talking about agroforestry, which is another way the private sector can have a return on investment.”
He added that Africa’s wealth of natural resources can also be part of the solution if investors and the people who own the natural resources can better collaborate.
“Remember that addressing these complex challenges requires a holistic approach and collaboration among various stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, local communities, scientists, businesses, and individuals,” Donwahi told The Mix. “Climate activists can act as catalysts for change by advocating for policies and practices that promote sustainability and resilience in the face of desertification, water scarcity, and food supply issues.”
