UN Agency Calls for Global Transformation of Agriculture in the Face of a Changing Climate

A recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that over the next 15 years, climate change will add to the number of people living in poverty via its effects on the agriculture and food sectors. By 2030, climate-related effects on food-related livelihoods could lead to an additional 35 to 122 million impoverished people, according to the 2016 State of Food and Agriculture Report.

The annual report projects the future of farming and food security in the face of a changing climate. It advocates for a broad-based transformation of agricultural systems “to ensure global food security, provide economic and social opportunities for all, protect the ecosystem services on which agriculture depends, and build resilience to climate change.”

While this kind of transformation won’t be easy, the FAO makes policy recommendations and suggests technical and financial mechanisms that will put farmers and governments on the right path.

Agriculture, at the intersection of human activity and natural resources, “holds the key to solving the two greatest challenges facing humanity: eradicating poverty and maintaining the stable climatic corridor in which civilization can thrive,” writes José Graziano da Silva, the FAO director-general.

But “without adaptation to climate change,” the report states, “it will not be possible to achieve food security for all and eradicate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.”