Climate Change & Food Security- getting more press

As we look ahead to Copenhagen, wondering about the decision that will be made, other meetings are taking place that focus on the challenges we will face as climate change begins to effect global cycles. On Monday, during a U.N. sponsored food security summit in Rome, a plan was presented to combat threats to global food security, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, tying these threats to climate change. "Today's event is critical. So is the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month. There can be no food security without climate security," Ban said.

Thinking about food security relating to climate change is perhaps a way to get large sections of the world’s population to understand true implications of not acting. Many people who live in inland areas (Colorado for example) have yet to see or understand the potential devastation that may be in our future (New Orleans, Burma, Indonesia, anyone?).

Climate change relating to food supply is not a new concept. In 1993, a study out of the University of Oxford, Environmental Change Unit, stated that the prospective climate change of global warming (with associated changes in hydrological regimes and other climatic variables) induced by the increasing concentration of radiatively active greenhouse gases change could have far-reaching effects on patterns of trade among nations, development, and food security.

At least 16 years later, this serious issue is making more headway into mainstream media with more studies coming out about the potential future we face. In October, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), released a study estimating that by 2050, irrigated wheat yield will have fallen by 30 percent and irrigated rice by 15 percent, and prices skyrocketing: wheat by 170 to 194 percent, rice 113 to 121 percent, and maize 148 to 153 percent higher.

If we can develop some sort of understanding about climate's effect on food supply, maybe this will develop into dialog on the full deck of cards. How does decreasing crop yields and increasing demand due to population growth effect land use isses? How do we find balance between agriculture vs. biofuel production vs. preserving our natural forests vs. all other land needs while we are slowly losing usable land to rising sea levels? How will this debate develop and effect political boundaries, political wealth and world power? Will these political issues develop into the first climate wars (as discussed in Michael Nash's documentary Climate Refugees)?

Being able to put number estimates to something that can’t be escaped (no matter your geography)- food security- may be a good way to create a larger impact of understanding for diverse audiences. It is encouraging to see the light being cast on such serious elements of climate change. One can only hope it opens dialog and thinking on the full impact climate change will have on our future.