Achieving food security in the face of climate change

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Abstract: Widespread uptake of sustainable practices in agriculture and food supply chains is essential to meet current and future threats to food security and environmental resilience. The global food system does not yet provide adequate calories or nutrition to everyone on the planet,yet it enables some populations to overconsume. In the coming decades,global agriculture must produce more food to feed a growing population while adapting to climate change,an increasing threat to agricultural yields. Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are predicted to become more frequent,adding to the global burden of hunger caused by poverty,weak governance,conflict and poor market access. In agricultural production,greenhouse gases (GHGs) contributing to climate change originate from fertilizers,ruminant digestion (cattle,sheep and goats),rice cultivation and fuel use. Land clearing for agriculture,particularly deforestation,can also contribute significantly to GHG impacts. But this is not inevitable. Alternative agricultural practices,suitable in different regions,can reduce net GHG emissions while maintaining or improving yields and adapting to more extreme weather.