Climate change and food security

DFID

Yvan Biot

Senior Scientist

Director of Research Office

Issues

• Sufficient, safe and nutritious food1

–Availability: production and trade

–Access: purchasing power and/or capacity to produce

–Utilisation: household ability to utilise and biological ability to digest

• Multiple pressures2

–Population, changing diets, urbanisation

–Competing demands on land

–Land, energy, water, P, food waste

– Input and output price volatilities

• Greenhouse gas emissions

1: Maxwell, D. et al., 2008: Emergency food security interventions. Good Practice Review nr 10. ODI, London

2: IDC, 2013: Global food security report. HC 176. House of Commons, London

Knox, J., et al., 2012: Climate change impacts on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia

Systematic review of projected yield changes (%) due to climate change

Policy responses

• Future Fit– Food, water, energy, towns

– Resilience

• Food security– More and sustainable production

– Improve resilience

– Ensure access to all

– Multiple entry-points

– infrastructure, trade, agribusiness, farmer organisation, innovation, …

• Global initiatives– New alliance for food security and nutrition, G8 Nutrition for Growth

– Alliance on climate smart agriculture

Programme

Business Unit

Organisation

Project investments

• ICF

• Strengthen production– Weather and climate predictions, resilient production, social protection

– BRACED, ASAP, …

• Engage markets and emerging economies– Therapeutic foods (India), CLIMAA, …

• Allied programmes– Water security, growth corridors, CC support programmes, …

• Low C and agriculture

Research and evidence

• Climate and environment

–Research: climate science, impacts, adaptation, water, ecosystems,…

– Innovation: cook-stoves, biofuels, decentralised energy generation, …

• Agriculture

–Research: CGIAR/CCAFS

– Innovation: climate smart rice, drought tolerant maize, flood tolerant

rice, evergreen agriculture, …

• Knowledge sharing

–CDKN: climate resilience and food security in Central America;

Caribbean – cocoa and tomatoes; …

–DFID Policy Division: CC impacts on value-chains

Main lessons

• Food security ≠ crop production

–Multiple entry-points for climate change to interact with

• Climate change ≠ the only problem

–Multiple pressures, complex interactions, dynamic

• It matters

–Policy – future fit, food and nutrition

–Project investments – ICF and core development budget

–Research and evidence