A recent report commissioned by the Farm Journal Foundation finds that low and middle income countries (LMICs) are highly vulnerable to climate shocks. But by providing better access to social protection programs, investing in female-dominated value-chain sectors, and enabling regional food trade they can increase their resilience.
The climate crisis “affects food quantity, quality and accessibility,” and is typified by changes in frequency, intensity, or duration of extreme weather events, according to the report. “For policymakers, it is important to understand where the vulnerabilities are in different systems and how they are interconnected,” Ramya Ambikapathi, Senior Research Associate in Global Development at Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and co-author, tells Food Tank.
The authors explain that poverty and a lack of local investment reduce the resilience of LMIC communities to appropriately withstand the effects of the changing climate. This can result in limited access to nutritious foods for LMIC populations, who are disproportionately at risk of suffering severe health consequences from malnutrition.
The report presents five major food system trends that inform global nutrition security. It highlights diet as a key factor in malnutrition and the heightened vulnerability of women to both nutrition and mental health issues, despite their crucial role in food systems. It also notes that small and mid-scale farms produce the bulk of food in LMICs but lack financial incentives for diverse, climate-resilient crops. The informal agriculture sector provides employment and access to nutritious foods but lacks social security. And the report says that the agri-food value chain is a crucial entry point for widespread food system change.
The report explains that a better understanding of these trends is critical to strengthening food and agriculture systems as the effects of the climate crisis intensify and become more unpredictable.
Climate shocks can disrupt food production, harm livelihoods, and weaken individual purchasing power. This often results in LMIC communities and smallholder farms being destabilized. Once a certain threshold is breached, the impact of non-linear climate shocks—which have a delayed onset or rapid cumulative impact—can be “devastating to local food and agriculture systems,” the authors note.
Accounting for non-linear drivers in planning is “fundamental to any robust anticipatory governance that is looking to design policies that are future proof,” Daniel Mason-D’Croz, Senior Research Associate in Global Development at the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and co-author of the report, tells Food Tank.
The report recommends an integrated whole of society and government approach to accurately address nutrition security and climate resilience around the world. These interventions consider how stakeholders across different industries can facilitate greater access to healthy diets while minimizing the environmental footprint of food systems.
“I think there is a lot of risk assessment and scenario building that happens but often in [disciplinary] silos,” says Ambikapathi. “An integrated systems approach…will help us prepare for whatever future we may face.”
And the report recognizes that cultural norms and values act as determinants of nutrition security. In one example, the researchers describe food systems as gendered, with women more likely to earn less and experience higher rates of food insecurity. Mason-D’Croz cautions that directing “cultural change from above or outside can be problematic,” and emphasizes that “change must be led by locals.”
The authors also lay out a series of recommendations to the policymakers in the United States to help them better support nutrition security around the world. They propose additional investment in the following areas: agriculture development; research and data gathering; social programs that provide more security to farmers, especially to women; and public infrastructure and accessible technical assistance.
Mason-D’Croz acknowledges that “cultures are continuously evolving as they are confronted by new challenges and engage with other cultures.” But ultimately, he tells Food Tank, “without local champions, efforts tend not to be sustainable.”
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