Implications of Climate Change on Global Food and Water Security

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The various issues related to climate change has, over the years gained considerable attention of the general mass and the increasing concern that it has direct/indirect affect on the standards and quality of the human lives. There has been many postulations regarding the same and the changes that climate would pose on the total food production as a result of which the food security could also get compromised, however, a majority of such research has been increasingly one sided and climate change has been identified as the cause without identifying the limitations of the system that has ensured that the food and water security have exacerbated aspects related to climate change (Islam et al., pp. 38).

The ignorance regarding the different avenues that are related to climate change and their possible effects would have a direct effect on the lives of human beings, their livelihoods which in turn will affect the economic prosperity, overall security and global peace. In order to understand the actual magnanimity of the losses and the real time security risks that are associated with climate change, the nexus that climate change can bring, the food and water security and the different issues in relation to international or global peace needs to be analyzed. Any sort of instability in any of these parameters shall ensure that food and water are being used as conflicts tools during war (Lal.,pp. 8–21)

Though there are a number of factors that have a direct effect on climate change, one of the major factors that contribute is the green house gases and their increased emission within the atmosphere. Enhanced concentration of these gases trap more heat thereby increasing the overall global temperature. Climate change has adverse effects on ecosystem ad living beings that include floods and droughts, wild fires and crop productivity issues that affect the global food and water supply tremendously (Islam et al., pp. 38).  There are three factors that are found to have direct effect on food production as a result of climate change and that include water, soils and crops respectively. These factors definitely have crucial importance towards the lethal affects of climate change on global food supply as they are the basic requirements for food production.

In situations when the soil has fewer nutrients, it is unable to support crops for their growth thereby having lesser crops and their availability. Similarly, when water is contaminated and is highly acidic, there will be death of crops and the rising natural forms of disasters like floods and droughts further affect the food security (Gould., pp.1-8). Any of these calamities shall result in crop failures or delays in production thus posing risks for food security. The floods might let to death of crops and also decrease in soil fertility which in either way has a direct effect on the global food supply. Climate change also affects the food variety and their growth with regard to nutritional value (Thomas., 2015). The trade and crop production disruption might result in plant production that has substantially low nutritional value than what it should be (Islam et al., pp. 38).  It therefore has a direct effect on individuals who are dependent on the food supply for their dietary requirement. Also, soil or water contamination with different chemicals might result in disruptions and imbalance in the food chain with regard to productions and nutritional value which will proportionately increase in the different food chains and food webs that are operational in nature (Mishra., pp. 153-165). In conclusion, it can be said that there is not only inter linkage but intertwining of the concept of climate change and global food and water security. It is thus very essential that the negative effects of the same are addressed.

We at the IEM UEM group consider climate change with utmost importance and adopt best practices to ensure a sustainable future for our future generations. Our students and their mentors have adopted nearby villages and they hold regular awareness programs online and offline for generating awareness amongst the common mass. Students at research and development cell (R &D) have developed many renewable energy devices and practices and are also working on many best practices and innovative ideas to make them practically work.  

We need to act sensibly in a coordinated manner to minimize incidences of ‘Amphan’, ‘Nisarga’ and others.

 On this world environment day (June 5^th), Together, we can… we will…

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#Foodsecurity  #Watersecurity

#InnovativePracticesAtUEMK  #IEM_UEM_Group  #IEMKolkata

#UEMKolkata #UEMJaipur

#UEMTopRankUniversity  #IEMBestInstitute

Works Cited

Gould, Kenneth Alan, and Tammy L. Lewis. Twenty lessons in environmental sociology. York: Oxford University Press, 2009.pp.1-8.

Islam, Md Saidul, and Andrea Ting Wong. “Climate change and food in/security: A critical nexus.” Environments 4.2 (2017): 38.

Lal, R. “Food security in a changing climate. Ecohydrol Hydrobiol. 2013; 13: 8–21.”

Misra, Anil Kumar. “Climate change and challenges of water and food security.” International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 3.1 (2014): 153-165.

Thomas, Vinod, and Ramón López. “Global increase in climate-related disasters.” Asian Development Bank Economics Working Paper Series 466 (2015).

Prof. Mitali Sengupta,
Department of Business Administration,
UEM Kolkata