Sustainable agriculture and climate change
Agriculture is now recognised as both contributing to and suffering from the negative effects of climate change. Farming accounts for as much as 32% of greenhouse gas emissions, if deforestation is included. On the other hand, climate-driven water scarcity3 and increases in the severity of droughts and floods will affect food production, especially in subsistence sectors. Smallholders, pastoralists and artisanal fisher folk will suffer complex and localised effects of climate change. Yields from rain-fed farming in some African countries could fall by up to 50% by 2020, and by up to 30% in some central and South Asian countries by 2050, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC). The IPCC estimates that at least 50 million additional people will be at risk of hunger by 2020 as a result of climate change. This could rise to 132 million additional people by 2050 and 266 million by 2080.
Related Content
- Addressing the impact of climate change on women farmers’ health in South Asia
- State of global environmental governance 2023
- Analysis of the implications of Africa's food systems development on environmental sustainability
- Climate change, migration and rural adaptation in the Near East and North Africa region
- The state of food and agriculture 2023: revealing the true cost of food to transform agrifood systems
- Green Credit Rules, 2023