Impact of Climate Changes on World Hunger
People impact on climate and cause climate changes, and climate changes impact on people. What do climate changes have to do with world hunger? More than one could imagine.
Hunger is definetely one of the main world problems and a great barrier to developement in many countries. SDG2 aims to end hunger by 2030. According to United Nations, SDGs can not happen until hunger and malnutrition are ended. One of the ways we can achieve that is by having sustainable and resilient, climate-compatible agriculture.
But, what happens when climate does not work in favour of ending world hunger? For many people, especially ones that live in Africa, Asia and Latin America, climate changes can have a huge impact on their lives. They can limit peoples access to food and make harder to grow it, especially in poor countries and regions. Natural disasters caused by global warming, such as eartquakes, hurricanes, storms, droughts and floods can significally impact quality of life and decrease possibilities of growing food in such areas.
For example, climate impacts are greater in Tropics, and milions of people in Southern Africa do not have enough to eat because of droughts. Without options to feed themselves, many farmers and fisherfolks are forced to migrate in order to find a more suitable place for living. One of the problems caused by climate changes is also limited access to food, not just because agriculture is destroyed, but because events like storms can block main roads, harbours and railway trails and in that way disable food transport.
Water is also a great issue, because many countries in such areas suffer from lack of water and women are forced to walk hours a day on extreme heats just to get it. Problem is also that the water is't clean and suitable for drink, what leads to malnutrition and many deseases such as diarrhea and malaria.
What can we do?
We have to find and integrate various technologies, tools and services to better equip the communities that are most affected by climate changes. According to World Food Programme, this can include diversifying livelihoods, protecting assets, incomes and crops with insurance and access to financial services, improving access to markets, and rehabilitating land. It also includes working with goverments to ensure these initiatives can be incorporated into national systems.
We have to support rural communities and ensure them sustainable ways to support themselves when facing climate changing. It is also needed to develop networks and relationships between countries and farmers, in order to ensure better exchange of information, goods and services, and protection of natural resources.
Author: Mirela Marković / IDOP