IPCC Climate Report Warns of Threat to Australia’s Food and Farming Tim Read
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) WGII Sixth Assessment Report was released earlier this year. FOE recently reported on the IPCC’s waring about fire threat, in this article, we focus on the warnings about climate change impacts on Australia’s food and farming system. The take home message is: Further climate change is inevitable, with the rate and magnitude of impact largely dependent on the emission reduction pathways that we choose. ‘Australia is one of the most vulnerable developed countries to climate impacts.’2 Time is running out if we want to act.
The impacts of climate change on our food and farming system, summary Extreme events, such as the recent flooding rains, are increasing and will result in ‘ “compound and cascading” effects on agriculture, water resources, lives, livelihoods and infrastructure’.3 Such events are projected to increase in magnitude and intensity. In International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES), has provided a summary of the impacts of climate change on our food and farming systems as detailed in the IPCC report:4 • Increased heat waves, droughts and floods from climate change are exposing millions of people to acute food insecurity, and this is set to worsen. • Smallholder farmers, pastoralists, Indigenous People and fishing communities face higher exposure to climate impacts; while marginalisation linked to gender, ethnicity and low income make people more vulnerable. • Climate change is undermining food production and impacting agricultural productivity growth, which has slowed 21%. • Unsustainable agricultural expansion and unbalanced diets are increasing vulnerability to climate impacts and creating resource competition. • 1.5°C of warming risks crop failure of maize in major food producing countries. • By 2100, 34% of current cropland could be unsuitable for food production. The IPCC calls for transformational changes that address social inequities to make food systems more resilient and just, such as:5
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• Cultivar improvements, agroforestry, community-based adaptation, farm and landscape diversification, and urban agriculture. • Diverse agroecological farming working with nature supports food security, livelihoods and biodiversity - and helps to buffer temperature extremes and sequester carbon.’ ‘Hundreds of millions of people, especially in Africa, Asia, Small Islands, Central and South America, and the Arctic are being impacted by stresses on food systems. 10% of current livestock and crop areas may become unsuitable by 2050, rising to 30% by 2100.’4