Climate change, water and food security - ODI Background Notes

The food price crisis of 2008 has led to the re-emergence of debates about global food security (e.g. Wiggins, 2008) and its impact on prospects for achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG): to end poverty and hunger. On top of a number of shorter-term triggers leading to volatile food prices, the longer-term negative impacts of climate change need to be taken very seriously. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that the progress in human development achieved over the last decade may be slowed down or even reversed by climate change, as new threats emerge to water and food security, agricultural production and access, and nutrition and public health. The impacts of climate change – sea level rise, droughts, heat waves, floods and rainfall variation – could, by 2080, push another 600 million people into malnutrition and increase the number of people facing water scarcity by 1.8 billion (UNDP 2008). Agriculture constitutes the backbone of most African economies. It is the largest contributor to GDP; the biggest source of foreign exchange, accounting for about 40% of the continent’s foreign currency earnings; and the main generator of savings and tax revenues. In addition, about two-thirds of manufacturing value-added is based on agricultural raw materials. Agriculture remains crucial for pro-poor economic growth in most African countries, as rural areas support 70-80% of the total population. More than in any other sector, improvements in agricultural performance have the potential to increase rural incomes and purchasing power for large numbers of people to lift them out of poverty (NEPAD, 2002; Wiggins, 2006). Climate change, however, is considered as posing the greatest threat to agriculture and food security in the 21st century, particularly in many of the poor, agriculture-based countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with their low capacity to effectively cope (Shah et al., 2008; Nellemann et al., 2009). African agriculture is already under stress as a result of population increase, industrialisation and urbanisation, competition over resource use, degradation of resources, and insufficient public spending for rural infrastructure and services. The impact of climate change is likely to exacerbate these stresses even further. The outlook for the coming decades is that agricultural productivity needs to continue to increase and will require more water to meet the demands of growing populations. Ensuring equitable access to water and its benefits now and for future generations is a major challenge as scarcity and competition increase. The amount of water allocated to agriculture and water management choices will determine, to a large extent, whether societies achieve economic and social development and environmental sustainability (Molden et al., 2007). This paper reviews current knowledge about the relationships between climate change, water and food security.