Impact of Climate Change on Food Security Worldwide - Essay Example

Introduction Based on the definition given by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food security exists when “food systems function in such away that all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” Slingo, (2005). Food security can be subdivided into three; access, utilization and availability. Availability is the ability that agricultural systems have for the production of sufficient food to feed the population. Accessibility refers to the ease at which a population is able to get the food being produced. Market prices, employment and preferences have a part to play in access. Utilization is the ability of a given population to make use of the food they get. It comprises of things such as quality of food, nutritional value as well as the level of health of those using the food Schmidhuber, (2007). When analyzing the impact of climate change on food security the most open correlations existing between these two can be found in availability. Since availability has to do with things such as location, timing and amount of food produced, it has become the environmental condition receiving the highest attention. Climate change affects the availability of food through rise of sea level which swallows arable land, impacting negatively on the plants’ growth cycles and extreme weather which can totally destroy plant and animal life Cotter, Reyes (2008). This paper examines the impact that global climate change has on food security in the whole world. With increasing temperatures on the earth’s surface, there are growing concerns that the sea levels will rise. In the coming century it is estimated that sea levels will rise by three feet Dow & Downing (2006). One foot will be accounted for by the expansion registered in the oceans due to the warming of the water. The next foot will result from the snow in sequestered in the high mountains which will fall like rain as the water finds its way to the oceans. Finally the last foot will be brought about by the melting of glaciers and calving in Greenland and Antarctica. Sea level rise is expected to take up 271 million acres of arable land within the developing countries Slater & Levin (1981). Arable land being lost to the sea means the loss of land meant for cultivation and loss of grazing land as well. Poor farmers depend on their animals for food and labor. When it becomes difficult to support the animals it may not even be easy to farm the land that remains and deny the farmers of the protein they get from the animals. The initial effect of increased heating of the earth is loss of water from the surface through evaporation and loss of water from plants through transpiration Ruddiman (2003). Even though there may be an increase in precipitation globally by 7%, this rain will be received in the coastal areas and the high latitudes. Evapo-transpiration will grow by 10% within the inland plain areas that grow the highest amount of the grains of the earth Slingo, (2005). The mid continental plains are vulnerable because they are the best fort he growth of grains. Contrastingly those places that may lose huge quantities of farm land are the coastal Africa and Southeast Asia regions that have dense populations. Schmidhuber, (2007) argues that although none of these areas produce a large amount of food for the global market, the most vulnerable people in the world are supported by the subsistence farms existing in these areas. To add to this, he says with the rising sea levels around the globe there will be a proportionate rise in saline waters. This will render many of the aquifers on the coasts useless. Although deeper aquifers and those in the inland may not be harmed the shallow aquifers that poor farmers depend on would no longer be beneficial. Livestock and food crops that were deeply affected by the low precipitation would be in danger because of the difficulty in irrigating the land Ruddiman (2003). Another bad effect that climate change can have on the earth’s food production is the huge amount of stress that it can put on the growth cycles of plants. According to Schmidhuber, (2007), all plants depend on a properly timed cycle for their growth and reproduction. Messing up slightly with crop production cycles which determine food produce can result into crop failure. This may happen when the granule growing time period is shortened. Slater & Levin (1981) argue that although the growth period for crops can lengthen when there is moderate warming on the globe, there will be stress exerted on the stage at which there is real grain production. This period which is referred to as the ‘filling stage’ will become shorter in case of high peak temperatures meaning the development of grains may never come. More so synchronization of functions that go with seasons like flowering, breeding and fruiting called phenology can be interfered with. These changes that are seen in phenology could look like a positive indicator because the species are getting acclimatized to the changes in climate. They could also serve as a negative sign as they show that living systems are being impacted by the change in climatic conditions. Cotter & Reyes (2008) say that although one may think that the changes occurring in phenology may be favorable it cannot be predicted how massive phenology changes can impact on whole ecosystems. The danger will look more open when the phenology in interdependent species is examined. For example assume a fig tree produces its flowers in July for 3 days and the particular species benefits only form pollination done by butterflies in migration. Assume also that the butterflies in migration by instinct halt for ‘refueling’ in the area where the fig tree is Slingo, (2005). In case there is a 2 day early shift in the fig tree phenology and the migration of the butterflies moves to 2 days later then there will not be an overlap between these two interdependent species. The implication here is that there will be no reproduction for the fig tree and the butterflies could possibly starve to death. In this world in which all agriculture relies on pollination services provided freely by the earth, a small shift in phenology could be destructive to crops if the pollinating species are affected by them. Cotter, Reyes (2008) point out that in a similar manner in which change in climate can affect crop phenology and filling stages, there may be an omission in the occurrences which trigger the growth of plants. Many cereal crops need very particular natural conditions in their incubation stages for them to start to grow. An example of such occurrences is in Southeast Asia and India where there are rainy monsoons and violent thunders. Cereal crops within such regions endure the strong heat caused buy bush fires induced by lightning followed by the heavy down pours common during the monsoons. Simulation cannot be done for the intense rains and also their timing should be orchestrated to go with the burning cycles Slingo, (2005). Grains in the food producing areas in Asia and Central North America depend very much on a vernalization period. Increased global temperatures will then hinder drops in temperature that can result in vernalization which can consequently hinder the flowering of plants later in season. This would mean no production of fruits, vegetables and grain Dow & Downing (2006). The final way in which change in climate can interfere with the availability of food is by causing extreme weather. Of all the methods through which climate change alters the availability of food the least predictable, most dynamic and most spontaneous is extreme weather Ruddiman (2003). Thus extreme weather can be said to be the most devastating. Violent winds may destroy the plants, surges in the oceans can result in soil and fresh water salination while heavy rain and flood can erode soil and wash it into the ocean. Excessively high temperatures may result in drought or excess humidity, which may cause drying up of plants and death of animals as well as plant diseases respectively Ruddiman (2003). Conclusion In conclusion, this paper carries an examination of the ways through which climate change causes food insecurity. Food security depends on the accessibility, availability and the utilization of food by populations. Climate change impacts on the security of food through 3 major ways as discussed in this paper. These ways are the rise in sea level which engulfs arable land, stress caused on the production cycles of plants and extreme weather which affects the wellbeing of livestock and plants. Food security is a sensitive issue to the survival of the populations of the world. As climate change threatens to interfere with food production, all should be done to ensure that it is checked and that the capacity of the world to feed itself is not compromised. Bibliography Cotter, J. and Reyes T. 2008 Food Security and Climate Change: The Answer is Biodiversity. Exeter, UK: Greenpeace Research Laboratories. Dow, K. and Downing E. T, 2006 The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge. New York: University of California P, Ruddiman, W. F. (2003). "The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago".Climate Change 61 (3): 261–293. Schmidhuber, J. 2007"Global Food Security Under Climate Change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 19703-9708. Slater, L. and Levin S. 1981 Climate's Impact On Food Supplies. Boulder, CO: Westview P Slingo, J. 2005 "Food Crops in a Changing Climate" Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 360: 1983-989. Read More