essay on global food security

5 Ways to Improve Global Food Security

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More than 820 million people around the world suffer from hunger.   Considering that we already produce enough food to feed the whole planet, this should no longer be a problem. But there are a number of factors that get in the way, including inefficient use of water, fertilizers and crop rotations.

That’s why Paul C. West and a team of researchers developed a set of ways to improve global food security.

“Our aim in writing this paper was to do an analysis that highlights that the opportunities and challenges to create a sustainable food system are concentrated in a small set of crops and places,” West, co-director of the Global Landscapes Initiative at the University of Minnesota, told TreeHugger. “Targeting actions in these places can have not only local, but also regional, and in some cases global impact.”

According to their report, tightening up on a number of key leverage points would provide enough calories to nourish three billion people while also taking environmental welfare into account.  

Close the Yield Gap

By 2050, 120 million hectares of natural habitats will be converted to farming in developing countries, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates.   According to West's study, in many parts of the world, current agricultural land is not reaching its potential, yielding 50 percent less than what it could produce. Closing the gap between what is being produced and what could be produced would both reduce the need to clear land for agriculture and feed 850 million people. The next points address how this gap can be diminished.

Use Fertilizer More Efficiently

At TreeHugger, we’re not big fans of synthetic fertilizers, but the reality is that they are used in large quantities around the world. There is some good news: based on their studies, West and his team estimated that the use of fertilizers with nitrogen and phosphorus on wheat, rice and maize crops could be reduced by 13-29 percent and still produce the same yields. Further efficiency could be gained through adjustments in the timing, placement and type of fertilizer.  

Raise Low Water Productivity

Water is a major issue . Improving irrigation systems and planting crops that use less water would be an effective way to tackle this. For example, rice and sugar cane are among the crops that need the most water. But it’s not simple to change the types of crops grown since farmers make decisions of what to grow based on market values, International Food Policy Research Institute Senior Research Fellow Lawrence Haddad pointed out to TreeHugger. One way to encourage change would be to provide economic incentives, but that can change based on regional differences and cultural tastes.

Target Food for Direct Consumption

A lot of caloric efficiency is lost when crops are converted for animal feed and other non-food uses.   If these crops were used directly to feed people, West and his team calculated that they could provide enough calories for 4 billion people. In some cases, this would mean changing where certain crops are grown, but as mentioned earlier, changing crops isn’t straightforward. Farmers grow crops that will ensure that they and their family can eat, whether that means eating their own crops or selling them to be able to afford food. “Lots of assumptions are made in this study: that people are willing to change their diets; that people in wealthy countries are willing to take significant measures to reduce food waste; that poor countries have the political and economic means to rectify yield gaps,” said Dr. Carol Barford, director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin.

But West had a response to this: “It would be very naive to assume that diets could radically shift soon. In fact, the trend toward more meat consumption is happening in many parts of the world. Our main point here is that the number of calories that we already grow but feed to animals is a huge number of calories. Even small changes in diet can have a profound impact.“

Reduce Food Waste

Globally, about a third of all food is lost or wasted, a result of various factors including inefficient preparation or inadequate storage facilities.   The United States is one of the biggest culprits for this and needs an agricultural land base that is 7 to 8 times larger than a land base in India to compensate for this waste. Reducing food waste in the United States, India, and China could feed 413 million people per year, according to West's research.

While West’s study provides some areas which need to be considered by policy makers, the study does not delve too far into economics.

“The research focuses on food availability, but I would say that most of the problem of hunger is around food access —do people have enough income to purchase food?” Haddad, of IFPRI, said in an email. Haddad writes that a discussion of global food security should also address the different needs of higher and lower income groups, maximize resilience of the food chain in the face of climate change and social conflicts, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

To be fair, West did acknowledge that his article fell short of addressing food access and nutrition, but he added, “It does address many of the key aspects of creating a sustainable food system using low-tech tools, including using fertilizer to boost production in food insecure areas to benefit the people in those areas as well as be less dependent on the major breadbaskets, minimizing waste, as well as reducing the environmental impacts through changes in management practices that increase efficiency. Access, nutrition, and cultural preferences all need to be addressed in concert with the aspects we addressed.”

The complexity of issues like food security is the reason hunger is such a prevalent issue in the 21st century. Tackling hunger will take a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary approach.

“ World Hunger Is Still Not Going Down After Three Years and Obesity is Still Growing – UN Report .” World Health Organization.

West, Paul C, et al. “ Leverage Points for Improving Global Food Security and the Environment .”  Science,  vol. 345, issue 6194, 2014, pp. 325-8., doi:10.1126/science.1246067

“ How to Feed the World in 2050 .” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations .

Shepon, Alon, et al. “ Energy and Protein Feed-to-Food Conversion Efficiencies in the US and Potential Food Security Gains from Dietary Changes .” Environ Res Lett, vol. 11, 2016, no. 10, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002

Verma, Monika van den Bos, et al. “ Consumers Discard a lot More Food than Widely Believed: Estimates of Global Food Waste Using an Energy Gap Approach and Affluence Elasticity of Food Waste .”  PloS One,  vol. 15, no. 2, 2020, p. e0228369., doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228369

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Achieving Food Security in a Sustainable Development Era

Introduction.

• Published: 23 November 2019
• Volume 4 , pages 117–121, ( 2019 )

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• Dan Banik 1  

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Despite numerous developmental successes around the world, including major strides in food production, the persistence and scale of world hunger is astonishing. According to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report (FAO 2019 ), more than 820 million people suffer from daily hunger and this number has been slowly increasing in the past three years. And almost 2 billion people face some form of food insecurity – i.e. without access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Women, children and indigenous groups remain particularly vulnerable to hunger. In addition to undernutrition, the world is also facing the growing threat of overweight and obesity, which continue to rise fast in all world regions and is assuming epidemic proportions.

This special issue highlights the urgency of enacting strong policies that leverage the benefits of globalization while minimizing the risks in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 2 related to ending hunger, improving food security and nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. Hunger remains a silent emergency – attracting attention mainly when large numbers die during sensational and highly visible famines. In contrast, chronic hunger continues to evade the headlines. As the world struggles to achieve better developmental outcomes in the face of climate disruption, the political, economic and social implications of this silent emergency are enormous. Hunger and food insecurity are the products of a complex set of factors, including climate related triggers (e.g. drought, flood, cyclone), which are often further exacerbated by economic hardship and conflict. Indeed, the ability of political systems to address growing food insecurity and prevent short-term and long-term food crises from escalating into famine are contingent on historical, cultural economic and political factors. Moreover, various types of inequalities – including those of income, gender, access to productive agricultural land, access to healthy and fresh food – are highly correlated with food insecurity.

The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its accompanying 17 SDGs by 193 heads of state in 2015 (UN  2015 ) – grouped under overarching themes of people, planet, dignity, prosperity, justice and partnership – sustainable development is back in the international limelight. The SDGs have been widely praised for a strong articulation of an environmental dimension, in addition to breaking new ground with goals on inequality, economic growth, energy, and peace. Many argue that despite being imperfect and highly ambitious, the SDGs are the result of a comprehensive participatory process, unparalleled in the history of global development (Doane 2016 ). Indeed, while its predecessor – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – focused exclusively on developing poor countries through foreign aid, the SDGs encompass a broader agenda, which applies to both rich and poor countries alike and is “buttressed by science and evidence” (UN 2014 ; UN 2015 ). By closely linking “sustainability” with “development” through the principles of “universality”, “integration” and “leave no one behind”, the 2030 Agenda has been much celebrated in academic, activist, business and policy circles as a means to stimulate a radical shift in world affairs (Banik and Miklian 2017 ). But the SDGs have also been criticized for their unrealistic ambitions and lack of focus. And one of the many unanswered questions relates to how low-income countries and conflict-prone fragile states will be able to plan, coordinate and finance development programs in line with the SDGs and aligned with their national interest.

There are growing concerns that many of the poorest countries will not be able to self-finance programs and that recent threats to aid from the Global North will stall efforts to advance the SDGs – thus making a stronger case for involvement of the private sector and the trillions of dollars for business opportunities that the SDGs open up (Business Commission 2017 ). However, operationalizing the SDGs requires a clearer understanding of the inter-connected, and yet distinct, role of national governments, international agencies and businesses. This is particularly urgent in low-income countries and conflict-prone fragile states, which are confronted with the dilemmas and potential pitfalls associated with coordinating the activities of numerous competing actors. Another key issue relates to state capacity and ability of local public administrations to identify, articulate, coordinate and implement development programs aligned with the national interest, while also making it sufficiently attractive for both domestic and international actors to become involved in SDG-related activities. Governments must therefore develop the capacity to identify mere profit-making initiatives that can thwart overall social and economic development.

Despite replete with references of the “we”, the 2030 Agenda does not make a clear distinction of the responsibilities of various stakeholders including national governments, international agencies and businesses (Engebretsen et al. 2017 ). Who will step in? And which part of the “we” will assume a greater responsibility for global development? Some argue that the pressure of achieving the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets can encourage governments to ignore the neediest. Still others point to unreliable and poor-quality data in large parts of the world and question the capacity of countries to reach “the furthest behind first” without knowing who they are (Jerven 2014 ; Melamed 2015 ). The emerging consensus has thus highlighted the importance of pursuing an integrated approach to economic, social and environmental aspects of development, requiring interdisciplinary research in addition to intersectoral collaboration and knowledge sharing. While the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of these “global goals”. Recent evidence, however, indicates slow implementation, and the need for greater efforts across the goals without losing focus on poverty reduction (UN 2019 ).

The SDGs have not thus far elicited the kind of enthusiasm among political leaders that is crucial for the success of such an ambitious agenda. In many countries, there is an on-going and often polarized national debate on the extent to which leaders should prioritise the SDGs rather than goals that are more narrowly defined to apply to local situations (e.g. prioritising allocation of resources to selected regions and targeting selected groups in the population). Most politicians are under enormous pressure to resolve current problems, challenges and deprivations and often do not typically find it politically beneficial to engage in discussions of future problems that could affect a generation that is yet to be born. Similarly, many global policy recommendations often overlook issues of local justice and messy local political realities including competition between groups for control over scarce resources. Thus, the goal of promoting sustainable development today with an eye on the wellbeing of future generations appears illusory for many governments struggling to solve current problems of extreme poverty and numerous forms of deprivation within their borders.

Even when there is ample and reliable scientific evidence pointing to the urgent need for societal transformations required to address the harmful consequences of global warming, political response in large parts of the world is lukewarm. For the SDGs to make a difference on the ground, policymakers must acquire a better understanding on the global norm of goalsetting and balance how global targets link to national and local goals. And a wide range of societal actors must hold their leaders to account for actions as well as inactions. We really must move beyond the rhetoric and the celebratory speeches to actual evidence of operationalisation and impact on the ground.

Achieving SDG 2

There is now increased attention on the staggering societal costs of hunger and the need to radically transform our local, national and international food systems into more sustainable, nutritious and efficient systems. The five essays in this special issue discuss a wide range of issues related to food systems and the ethics and politics of global and national food policies. While there has been growing attention on food insecurity in recent years, two essays draw our attention to famine, which has received far less attention. Olivier Rubin begins by distinguishing the “whispering emergency” of famine from related terms such as malnutrition and chronic hunger. He thereafter critically revisits Peter Singer’s famous famine relief argument from the early 1970s, according to which we have good moral reasons for greater human engagement through charitable actions to prevent mass deaths from hunger. Rubin finds that Singer’s argument, although still powerful, often appears to be disconnected from the contemporary development discourse that is more skeptical to the role of charitable benevolence in famine prevention. Although he agrees that famines ought to evoke a strong moral response, Rubin concludes that the dynamics of recent famines warrant greater attention on the obligation to criminalize famine – how individuals and groups can be more effectively held to account for the failure to prevent starvation deaths.

Alexander Vadala examines the political factors that explain the continued threat of famine in Ethiopia – a particularly interesting case given that the country is not a democracy and has a long history of famines and high levels of malnutrition. But even within Ethiopia, vulnerability to famine remains substantially high among pastoralists in the Afar region. Vadala builds on the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s well-known claim that the right to freedom of expression and adversarial media reports in democracies are crucial for preventing famine. Following a critical review of Sen’s entitlement approach, he unpacks the close linkages between food insecurity and pastoralism in Ethiopia. Vadala finds that a set of policy decisions exacerbated pastoral vulnerability, including the closure of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border and the ban on salt trade with Djibouti. The recent initiatives undertaken by the new Ethiopian government under Abiy Ahmed offers some hope, but achieving SDG2 requires that the authorities respect the rights, needs and demands of vulnerable groups.

Jessica Fanzo focuses on why increased attention on healthy and sustainable diets is crucial for achieving SDG2. Although there has been a growing international discourse on what constitutes a “healthy diet”, improving the dietary habits of the world’s population has been extremely challenging. Most countries face some form of malnutrition, and sub-optimal diets are a major cause of various forms of hunger. Fanzo discusses the crucial role of SDG2 in achieving the wider 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and examines the uneven global progress thus far, including potential challenges ahead. She also critically discusses the impact of numerous ethical considerations and inherent trade-offs related to the achievement of sustainable and healthy diets, including the rapid population growth, economic crises, income inequality and climate change.

Although the SDGs are receiving increased international attention, Marc Cohen finds that the global agenda aimed at reducing hunger is characterized by serious policy incoherence. The international discourse is frequently characterized by fancy rhetoric and generous sounding pledges that have not resulted in greater political commitments to ending hunger. While national policies and budgets continue to neglect agriculture and irrigation, the agriculture trade and security policies of influential foreign donor countries also often undercut efforts to strengthen agricultural development in low-income country contexts. Cohen examines the growing gap between words and actions. He concludes that policy incoherence on SDG 2 results from a combination of agricultural subsidies in high-income countries and the resulting dumping of surplus products in aid-recipient countries, an excessive focus on defense spending and arms trade in many parts of the world and ineffective policies aimed at supporting smallholder farmers.

My essay with Michael Chasukwa focuses on the politics of food policy in Malawi – one of the poorest countries in the world. Many low-income countries, including those that are heavily dependent on foreign aid – are struggling to formulate and implement policies aimed at promoting the SDGs. Although Malawi has achieved some success in relation to reducing child mortality and combating HIV/AIDs, food insecurity remains high despite considerable political talk on the need to strengthen the country’s agriculture sector. We focus on a key intervention of the Malawian government in recent years – the Farm Input Subsidy program (FISP) – which is characterized by institutional rivalry, lack of coordination, inadequate financial resources, corruption and poor implementation. Agriculture policy in the country is not only haphazardly formulated and implemented, it is also excessive focused on securing availability of maize at the expense of other crops with the potential of diversifying diets and promoting greater food security.

The five essays in this special issue collectively identify and discuss barriers and challenges to achieving the SDGs in general and SDG 2 in particular. The overall conclusion in recent reports on hunger and food insecurity is that the world is continuing to move further away from achieving SDG 2. And the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (Human Rights Council 2019 ) has recently argued that if the current trend of global warming continues, several hundred million people risk food insecurity with a decline in food production due to crop yield losses. These groups also risk water insecurity and greater risks of malaria, diarrhea and heat stress. An increase in the frequency of droughts and floods and the resulting displacement will have a disproportionate impact on the daily lives of those living in poverty. The enormous scale of world hunger requires us to update our approaches (making them bolder and involving multisectoral collaboration across different policy domains) and ensure that our interventions are better targeted both socially and geographically, taking into account inequality, conflict, gender, climate and economic slowdowns.

Banik, D. and Miklian, J. (2017) “New Business: The Private Sector as a New Global Development Player”, Global Policy, https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/24/11/2017/new-business-private-sector-new-global-development-player

Business Commission (2017) Better Business Better World, http://report.businesscommission.org/uploads/BetterBiz-BetterWorld_170215_012417.pdf

Doane, D. (2016) “We Won’t Conquer the Mountains of the SDGs Without Humility”, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jul/07/sdgs-progress-stay-humble . Accessed 20 Nov 2019

Engebretsen, E., Heggen, K., Banik, D. & Ottersen, O. P. (2017) “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Power of Ambiguities”, https://www.whatworks.uio.no/blog/2018/sdg_responsibility.html

FAO (2019) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162en/ca5162en.pdf . Accessed 20 Nov 2019

Human Rights Council (2019) Climate Change and Poverty, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/A_HRC_41_39.pdf

Jerven, M. (2014) “Benefits and Costs of the Data for Development Targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda”, Copenhagen Consensus Center, https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/sites/default/files/data_assessment_-_jerven.pdf

Melamed, C. (2015) “Leaving No One Behind: How the SDGs can Bring About Real Change”, Briefing paper, Overseas Development Institute, https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9534.pdf

UN (2014) The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/reports/SG_Synthesis_Report_Road_to_Dignity_by_2030.pdf

UN (2015) Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld . Accessed 20 Nov 2019

UN (2019) The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2019.pdf

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Banik, D. Achieving Food Security in a Sustainable Development Era. Food ethics 4 , 117–121 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-019-00057-1

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Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2024

Published by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) in support of the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC), the GRFC 2024 is the reference document for global, regional and country-level acute food insecurity in 2023. The report is the result of a collaborative effort among 16 partners to achieve a consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity and malnutrition in countries with food crises and aims to inform humanitarian and development action.  

FSIN and Global Network Against Food Crises. 2024. GRFC 2024 . Rome.

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Food Security Crisis Resolution Essay

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Introduction

Global governance, importance and aids by global governance, works cited.

Food is one of the fundamental needs of human. Food security is the ability to access food by those who need it. Every household is termed as secured food wise if it has access to safe and enough food hence freedom from hunger. The World Food Organization describes this security as access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food to cater for the basic human desires.

The rapid increase of population all over the world is the major result for food insecurity (Harman 18). To ensure the situation does not run out of hand, the global body Food and Agricultural Organization has been at the forefront since time immemorial to cater for issues related to this basic human need. Central to this organization is governance. This can ensure that even if there is increased population, there can be enough resources or produce to cater for the increase and even shortages.

Food security has become a complex task to achieve with the development of globalization. Initially the main focus of the governing body was on agriculture. This ensured carefully monitoring of production and even the surplus that are stored. Today, different issues of concern have cropped up. These are in terms of food processing, food distribution and food consumption. Governance of food security has become challenging with the forms of contradictory policies that exist.

Most third world countries have weak connections with the global governance (Harman 18). These countries are always the worst hit groups when there is hunger breakout. On the other hand America and most of its environs have high influence in the global governance. Their exports have greatly increased while other third world countries exports have reduced. These countries used to export in a massive way but have since declined in production.

These countries are not promising at all. Therefore they have less influence of the global investment kitties. One will find that those countries that are stable in terms of agricultural production and are also doing great in the processing have much attraction to investment and are therefore considered a priority by the governing bodies

Several methods have been employed to cater for increasing cases of food insecurity. One of these methods is research. The cases of reduced land for tenure have been the main cause of low agricultural production. Currently, researchers have introduced novel ways of producing crops.

This has been aided greatly by biotechnology. This new research concept has enabled the production of crops that can resist adverse conditions. In addition, other crops can also do well in green houses. Unfortunately, other countries cannot afford this. Although global governance has given out these good options, some countries cannot afford. This is because their government cannot afford the finances in one way or another (Harman 18). This paints a bad picture of the governance while it is evident that it is not their fault.

Other forms of governance that would improve food security include Rule of law, internal peace, improvement of infrastructure from rural areas and support from the government for research. These proposals are best when employed on the ground. Developed countries have already put these practices in place and are ahead. There have been problems caused by global warming and other related disaster but this has been solved by having alternative methods. This does not mean that the conventional methods have been neglected.

Adoption measures have been for the purpose of bridging the gap between production and consumption. There is need for all countries to be stakeholders of global food programmes and government. This will ensure that there is a legitimate process for handling problems and also providing solutions for future activities. Unfortunately, the developing countries do not take part in the same footing. This therefore calls for a better government that will have honor for legitimate, political and democratic process.

Current Global Economic Situation

This is an economy which comprises all the economies of the world. The issue of globalization brought a great revolution in the economy of the world. This revolution comprised of merging of trade markets, free trade in international stock markets and many more. Initially, this impacted nations in a positive way (Harman 18). There was expansion of markets and industries, creation of employment opportunities for both the young and old the people and a paradigm shift from job search to creation of jobs. More so was the issue of innovation that brought about great investment both in foreign and indigenous countries.

Developed and developing countries have had different effects due to the dynamic global economy. Currently, the economy is at its worst. The economic metrics stand at a free fall at the moment. Some are quite rapid that it has become so scary. The situation has continued to deepen day by day from banks bail out to individual country bail outs.

Central to this crisis is the unavailability of basic commodities such as food. In addition, oil prices have posed the hardest hit to most countries. The oil crisis was brought about by the unstable situation in Japan and Northern part of America. These unrests led to reduced production of oil from the main oil producing countries such as Libya. The rising oil prices have been due to the scarce in the commodity or the raw material. This crisis has also translated to the current energy crisis

On the other hand is food crisis. This has also arisen due to globalization of the economy. Increased industries led to the deterioration of the environment. This consequently led to global warming. Global warming has had a great impact on Agriculture. The climate of the globe has changed tremendously towards the negative. This has contributed to the accumulation of greenhouse gases hence global warming.

Therefore the climate has changed affecting the agricultural activities. This has directly affected food prices mostly for people living in poor countries and the Asian community. This has since resulted in high increase in food prices. For instance, in Asia the food prices have increased to 10%. This has affected about sixty five million people in the country.

Another factor that has put the current economy at risk is the weakening of the Dollar. This has led to the rapid rise in market prices. The American people have huge debts to pay hence this has greatly affected their economy and even the grand global economy. Goods traded across the global market are as expensive as has never been experienced before.

The most affected are the developing countries which have to add an extra coin to get goods across the global market. There has been cumulative unemployment for fresh college students in both developing and developed nations. Also there has been a rebound in the trade globally. In 2010 the increase in trade was about 12% which was positive.

Resolution for the Crisis

The main resolution strategy to the current economic crisis is the issue of changing policies. This can be achieved by using neutral bodies that can help save the matter starting with the matters that are of priorities. First of all the weakening of the Dollar is one crisis that should be resolved. It actually affects the global markets and hence touches every part of the world. The crisis in the economic sector unfortunately combines almost all international affairs from trade, agriculture, social status, political status and many more affairs.

This then means that there is need to restructure the financial operations. As mentioned above, a policy reform is the ways to go. International organizations dealing with specific global issues should sit down and allow room for policy interventions that will be able to advocate for the independence of countries in terms of control of each country resources (Pacula etal., 276).

For instance, every country should have the sovereign authority to strategize on self sufficiency. That is, every country should have the capacity to state their productivity, consumption and even surplus without being influenced externally. Central regulation has proven to lack transparency hence failure in the part of governance.

The issue of central control can be avoided by having each country regulate their resources and present what they have to the international organizations. This does not mean that the mandates of these international organizations are being neglected but it means that the essence of external interventions is nullified.

Another critical sector that needs quick salvaging is the financial sector. There are policies that were imposed by the World health organization, World Bank, international Monetary Fund and the regional and bilateral trade (Pacula etal., 276).

These policies have tremendously caused the current financial crisis that has been predicted to last for about two years before it picks up in a steady state. It is speculated that the years 2012 and 2013 will be bad years for more so the developed countries. Controls such as the forced quotas, regulated market prizes, control of imports should be solely left within the agreements by countries.

In the case of finances, the issue of financial literacy needs to be worked out. The current crisis means that there has been inefficiency in management of money matters. It there was a well sophisticated system able to work out the financial problem and even speculate the trends in an actual way then the issue of global crisis could not be a pandemic at the moment. For example, the issue of high mortgage ownership in developed countries has led to the banks running in huge debts hence a need for bailouts.

If there were plans put in place to train the consumers who were taking credits then there would not be the issue of debt default. This would mean that the consumers would be aware of the steps they are taking and would only participate in taking debts that they are able to clear. This can also translate in the global credit acquisition by countries. There have been increasing complexities in the financial markets both in individual countries and globally. Having financial literacy would solve the issue of this crisis.

Approach to Crisis Resolution

Fortunately, these approaches are underway as there have been non partisan groups that are lobbying for reforms and policy change in international organizations. Having and ear for the cry of these lobbyists will be a good step taken by the developed countries and even the international organization in working out the crisis. Therefore, to have success, there should be great interest by these organizations and countries to take part in reforms especially on the issue of financial education which is very important.

Harman, Chris. “Financial and Economic Crisis”. The Guardian Weekly 3 Aug. 2007: 18. Print.

Pacula etal. “Politics of the United Nations”. Journal of Political Economy . 95.2 (2006): 107-300. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2019, May 20). Food Security Crisis Resolution. https://ivypanda.com/essays/food-security-essay/

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• Published: 13 August 2024

Reducing climate change impacts from the global food system through diet shifts

• Yanxian Li   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1947-7541 1 ,
• Pan He   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1088-6290 2 , 3 ,
• Yuli Shan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5215-8657 4 ,
• Ye Hang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1368-905X 4 ,
• Shuai Shao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9525-6310 6 ,
• Franco Ruzzenenti 1 &
• Klaus Hubacek   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2561-6090 1  

Nature Climate Change ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Climate-change impacts
• Climate-change mitigation

How much and what we eat and where it is produced can create huge differences in GHG emissions. On the basis of detailed household-expenditure data, we evaluate the unequal distribution of dietary emissions from 140 food products in 139 countries or areas and further model changes in emissions of global diet shifts. Within countries, consumer groups with higher expenditures generally cause more dietary emissions due to higher red meat and dairy intake. Such inequality is more pronounced in low-income countries. The present global annual dietary emissions would fall by 17% with the worldwide adoption of the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet, primarily attributed to shifts from red meat to legumes and nuts as principal protein sources. More than half (56.9%) of the global population, which is presently overconsuming, would save 32.4% of global emissions through diet shifts, offsetting the 15.4% increase in global emissions from presently underconsuming populations moving towards healthier diets.

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Food choices impact both our health and the environment 1 , 2 . The food system is responsible for about one-third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions 3 , 4 and climate goals become unattainable without efforts to reduce food-related emissions 5 , 6 . However, not everyone contributes the same way to food-related emissions because of disparities in lifestyle, food preferences and affordability within and across countries 7 , 8 , 9 . High levels of food consumption (especially animal-based diets), one of the leading causes of obesity and non-communicable diseases 10 , 11 , lead to substantial emissions 9 , 12 . Simultaneously, >800 million people still suffer from hunger and almost 3.1 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet 13 . Ending hunger and malnutrition while feeding the growing population by extending food production will further exacerbate climate change 14 , 15 . Given the notable increase in emissions driven by food consumption despite efficiency gains 16 , changing consumer lifestyles and choices are needed to mitigate climate change 17 .

Research shows that widespread shifts towards healthier diets, aligned with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 18 , offer solutions to this complex problem by eradicating hunger (SDG 2), ensuring health (SDG 3) and mitigating emissions (SDG 13) 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 . Numerous dietary options have been proposed as guidelines for diet shifts 1 , 23 , 24 . The planetary health diet 12 , proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission, stands out as a prominent option. It aims to improve health while limiting the impacts of the food system within planetary boundaries by providing reference intake levels for different food categories 9 , 25 . It is flexibly compatible with diversities and preferences of regional and local diets 12 . Previous research has estimated changes in country-specific environmental impacts, including GHG emissions 26 , 27 , 28 and water consumption 25 , resulting from adopting the planetary health diet. However, there is limited evidence on how different population groups will contribute differently in this process 7 .

Food consumption and associated emissions differ as a result of disparities in consumer choices guided by social and cultural preferences, wealth and income 29 . Quantifying food-related emissions along the entire supply chain for different products and population groups provides information for emission mitigation through changing consumer choices 17 . With the improved availability of household consumption data, recent studies have revealed inequality in energy consumption 30 , 31 and carbon emissions 17 , 32 , 33 , 34 . Although there are several studies on income- or expenditure-specific food-related emissions within individual countries based on survey-based data 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , previous studies have not assessed global food-related emissions with a detailed breakdown into specific products and population groups. Furthermore, reducing the overconsumption of wealthy or otherwise overconsuming groups can increase the availability of resources for reducing hunger and malnutrition 7 . However, it remains unclear how emissions from different population groups would change in response to global diet shifts.

To fill these gaps, this study evaluates GHG emissions (CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O) throughout the global food supply chains (including agricultural land use and land-use change, agricultural production and beyond-farm processes) 16 induced by diets, termed ‘dietary emissions’, in 2019 and the potential emission changes of global diet shifts. Food loss and waste during household consumption 25 , 39 , 40 have been subtracted from the national food supply to obtain dietary intake. We quantify dietary emissions of 140 products 16 (classified into 13 food categories 12 ) on the basis of the global consumption-based emissions inventory of detailed food products 16 . By linking detailed food intake amounts to the food consumption patterns of 201 global expenditure groups (grouped according to the per capita total expenditure of each group) from the household-expenditure dataset 41 based on the World Bank Global Consumption Database (WBGCD) 42 , we analyse the unequal distribution of dietary emissions in 139 countries or areas, covering 95% of the global population. Despite limitations, the total expenditure of consumers, which effectively reflects patterns in household income, consumption and asset accumulation, is a useful approximation to represent levels of income and wealth 31 , 43 . Additionally, we build a scenario of shifting from diets in 2019 to the global planetary health diet to estimate emission changes ( Methods ). This study investigates differences in dietary emissions among regions, countries and population groups, identifying areas where efforts are needed to mitigate emissions during the global transition towards a healthier and more planet-friendly diet.

Present dietary emissions across countries

In this study, dietary emissions account for emissions along the entire global food production supply chains, which are allocated to final consumers of diets. We use the term ‘GHG footprints’ to specifically refer to the dietary emissions of an individual over 1 year 17 , 34 . The total dietary emissions and country-average per capita GHG footprints show different distributions across countries in 2019 (Fig. 1a ; for detailed food categories see Supplementary Figs. 1 – 9 ). The present total global dietary emissions reach 11.4 GtCO 2 e (95% confidence interval 8.2–14.7 Gt) (details of uncertainty ranges in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 ). China (contributing 13.5% of emissions) and India (8.9%), the world’s most populous countries (Supplementary Table 3 ), are the largest contributors to global dietary emissions. Alongside Indonesia, Brazil, the United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Russia, Japan and Mexico, the top ten contributors represent 57.3% of global dietary emissions but with very unequal per capita emissions within and between countries. We find the highest country-average per capita footprints in Bolivia, with 6.1 tCO 2 e, followed by Luxembourg, Slovakia, Mongolia, the Netherlands and Namibia, with >5.0 tCO 2 e (Supplementary Discussion 2.1 ). Haiti (0.36 tCO 2 e) and Yemen (0.38 tCO 2 e) have the lowest country-average footprints, followed by Burundi, Ghana and Togo. Insufficient food intake of residents due to limited food affordability 44 , 45 is the root cause of low footprints in these low- and lower-middle-income countries 46 .

a , Total and per capita dietary emissions for 139 countries/areas. b , Regional dietary emissions from different food categories and populations. The bar chart (left primary axis) shows the regional emission amounts and the line chart (right secondary axis) shows the number of regional populations. Columns are ordered by the descending per capita GDP of regions (Supplementary Tables 5 and 6 ). USA, United States; AUS, Australia; WE, Western Europe; CAN, Canada; JPN, Japan; RUS, Russia; ROEA, Rest of East Asia; EE, East Europe; CHN, China; ROO, Rest of Oceania; NENA, Near East and North Africa; BRA, Brazil; ROLAC, Rest of Latin America and the Caribbean; ROSEA, Rest of Southeast Asia; IDN, Indonesia; IND, India; ROSA, Rest of South Asia; and SSA, Sub-Saharan Africa. Details for the division and scope of regions are shown in Supplementary Fig. 10 and Supplementary Tables 7 and 8 . Country classification by income levels is based on the World Bank 46 . Credit: World Countries basemap, Esri ( https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/esri::world-countries/about ).

Source data

While animal-based (52%) and plant-based (48%) products contribute nearly equally to global dietary emissions 4 , 16 , the latter accounts for 87% of calories in global diets (Supplementary Table 4 ). The three main sources of emissions, namely red meat (beef, lamb and pork) (5% of calories), grains (51%) and dairy products (5%), contribute to 29%, 21% and 19% of global emissions, respectively. The substantial emissions from red meat and dairy products are attributed to their considerably higher emissions per unit of calories compared to other categories (Supplementary Table 4 ).

To highlight emission differences at a regional level, we further group the country-level results into 18 regions according to geographical locations and development levels (Fig. 1b and Supplementary Fig. 10 ). In most regions, animal-based products contribute fewer calories (less than a quarter) (Supplementary Data 21 ) but yield more emissions than plant-based products, especially in Australia (84% from animal-based products), the United States (71%) and the region Rest of East Asia (71%) where residents excessively consume both red meat and dairy products. However, the consumption of plant-based products in Indonesia (83% of total calories), Rest of Southeast Asia (92%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (77%) accounts for the most emissions, at 92%, 73% and 64%, respectively. Southeast Asia including Indonesia has a high-emission proportion from grains (42%) due to the prevalent meals dominated by rice. The typical food basket in Sub-Saharan Africa is broadly made up of grains, tubers, legumes and nuts 25 , 47 , representing over half of the regional emissions.

Unequal distribution of dietary emissions within countries

We find substantial differences in per capita GHG footprints within countries and regions. To clearly present the distribution of footprints within each country and region, individuals are sorted in ascending order of their total expenditure levels and then sequentially allocated to ten expenditure deciles with equal population size (Supplementary Fig. 11 and Fig. 2a ). As expenditures increase, individuals tend to have higher levels of footprints, with the largest increase attributed to red meat and dairy products. Richer populations usually have higher per capita footprints related to animal-based products than the poorer in most regions (Fig. 2b ). However, there are differences in per capita footprints within expenditure deciles. For example, even in high-income countries such as Australia and Japan, the dietary intake of red meat for some people in the poorest deciles falls below the recommended levels (Supplementary Data 15 ). Rest of East Asia is one exception, with the poorest decile having high footprints due to a substantial intake of red meat, as seen in Mongolia where beef and mutton are the most common dish 48 .

a , GHG footprints from all types of food categories. The size of the bubble refers to the average total expenditure represented by the decile. b , GHG footprints from different food categories. The colours of bubbles in a and b indicate expenditure deciles ranging from the poorest in blue to the wealthiest in red and are comparable only within each region.

Footprints related to plant-based products in specific regions show a different trend from animal-based products as expenditures increase. The middle expenditure groups are responsible for the highest footprints associated with grains in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and the highest footprints of tubers, vegetables and fruits (mainly starchy tropical fruits 49 ) in the Rest of Oceania. These locally produced, high-carbohydrate products are traditional staple foods. In poor countries, agricultural policy primarily targets improving the productivity of staple food, with little investment in the market and facilities for nutrient-rich products 50 , 51 . Consequently, the need for dietary diversity for middle- and low-income people is not adequately addressed 50 , leading to increased consumption of these lower-cost products. However, wealthier consumers can afford more expensive products, such as red meat, reducing their reliance on these staple products.

We use the GHG footprint Gini (GF-Gini) coefficient, calculated on the basis of data from 201 expenditure groups, to measure the dietary emission inequality within a country (Fig. 3 ), with 0 indicating perfect equality and 1 indicating perfect inequality. The inequality of dietary emissions tends to decline with the increase of the per capita GDP of a country, especially for animal-based products. We find the highest inequality of dietary emissions of food products generally in low-income countries, most of which are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the highest spending 10% of the population contributes 40% of the regional emissions from red meat, 39% from poultry and 35% from dairy products. In contrast, high-income countries generally have relatively low inequality with high levels of emissions despite country-to-country variations. The GF-Gini coefficients for all types of products of most Western European countries are <0.20 (Supplementary Tables 9 and 10 ), which is lower than for other high-income countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan.

a – j , The x axis represents the country-average per capita GDP, and the y axis represents the national GF-Gini coefficients of all types of ( a ) and different ( b – j ) food categories. b , Beef, lamb and pork. c , Dairy products. d , Poultry, eggs and fish. e , Grains. f , Tubers and starchy vegetables. g , Vegetables and fruits. h , Legumes and nuts. i , Added fats. j , All sugars. Logarithmic regression (red solid line) and locally weighted regression analysis (blue dotted line) are used to determine the relationship between the national GF-Gini coefficient (dependent variable) and the country-average per capita GDP (independent variable). The coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) and the exact P values from the two-sided Student’s t -test for the logarithmic regression are indicated in each subgraph. The error bands (grey shaded areas) represent 95% confidence intervals around the fitted logarithmic regression lines. Blue, orange and green dots represent all types of products, animal-based products and plant-based products, respectively.

Dietary emission shares across consumer groups

There are notable differences in dietary emission shares associated with food categories across expenditure deciles between regions (Fig. 4 ). In high-income countries, expenditure groups have relatively similar patterns of dietary emissions, with large shares of red meat and dairy products contributing the largest amount of emissions. Even poor consumer groups in high-income countries tend to be more likely to be able to afford animal-based products as a result of relatively lower prices for dairy products, eggs, white meat and processed red meat. This contrasts with the high prices of animal-based products due to supply constraints in most low- and lower-middle-income countries 52 , 53 . Except in high-income countries, starchy staple foods (including grains and tubers), with low prices but high-carbohydrate content 44 , 54 , constitute a large proportion of dietary emissions because of the high level of consumption, especially in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As individuals’ expenditures increase in these countries, emission shares from starchy staple foods in total emissions decrease substantially. These changes demonstrate that as the affordability of food increases, populations tend to adopt instead more diverse diets composed of fewer starchy staple foods and more meat, dairy products, vegetables and fruits. This trend generally aligns with Bennett’s Law 25 , 55 , 56 . For example, research shows that with rapid economic growth, China’s urban or high-income groups increase their intake of non-starchy foods to fulfil their requirements of dietary diversity 35 , while poorer groups, often engaging in strenuous physical jobs, predominantly consume inexpensive starchy staple foods. One exception is Rest of Oceania, where poorer groups have higher percentages of emissions from not only tubers but also vegetables and fruits. Owing to relatively low expenditure on food, poor populations in this island region usually choose locally cultivated tubers and fruits (such as cassava, taro and bananas) 57 , 58 with high intensities of land-use emissions 59 .

The numbers at the bottom of each bar represent the expenditure levels of regional expenditure deciles, ranging from the poorest (1) to the wealthiest (10). Food categories are shown in the colour legend. a , United States. b , Australia. c , Western Europe. d , Canada. e , Japan. f , Russia. g , Rest of East Asia. h , Eastern Europe. i , China. j , Rest of Oceania. k , NENA. l , Brazil. m , ROLAC. n , Rest of Southeast Asia. o , Indonesia. p , India. q , Rest of South Asia. r , Sub-Saharan Africa.

Emission changes from adopting the planetary health diet

To estimate the emission changes from a global diet shift, we build a hypothetical scenario by assuming that everyone in all countries adopts the planetary health diet ( Methods ). Results indicate that the global dietary emissions would decrease by 17% (1.94 (1.51–2.39) GtCO 2 e) compared with the 2019 level (details of the uncertainty ranges can be found in Supplementary Tables 11 and 12 ). The presently overconsuming groups (56.9% of the global population) would save 32.4% of global emissions through diet shifts, more than offsetting the 15.4% increase in global emissions from the presently underconsuming groups (43.1% of the global population) as a result of adopting healthier diets (Supplementary Table 13 ). National dietary emissions in 100 countries would decline by 2.88 GtCO 2 e, whereas the other 39 countries (mainly low- and lower-middle-income countries 46 in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia) would have an increase in emissions by 938 MtCO 2 e (Fig. 5a ; for detailed food categories see Supplementary Figs. 12 – 20 ).

a , Volume changes and percentage changes of national emissions for 139 countries/areas. b , Regional emission changes from different food categories. Abbreviations of 18 regions and the source of the base map are listed in Fig. 1 caption.

Countries would be affected differently regarding emission changes by adopting the planetary health diet, reflected in the percentage change in national emissions (Fig. 5a ). Uzbekistan (−74%), Australia (−70%), Qatar (−67%), Turkey (−65%) and Tajikistan (−64%) would see the largest percentage decrease. In comparison, most of the countries with an estimated considerable percentage increase are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, with the largest percentage increase from Iraq (+155%). Notably, with the increase in per capita GDP, the percentage change in overall dietary emissions of countries shows a shift from a positive to a negative trend, primarily led by changes in animal-based emissions (Supplementary Fig. 21 ).

Global emission reduction would be dominantly driven by red meat and grains (Fig. 5b ). The reduction in meat, eggs and fish would lead to 2.04 GtCO 2 e of emission reduction, of which 94% is driven by the decrease in red meat. China (22%), the United States (15%) and Brazil (14%) would be the largest contributors to emission reduction associated with a decrease in red meat consumption. A decline in grains would result in 914 MtCO 2 e of emission reduction, of which 56% would happen in Asia. A further 240 and 89 MtCO 2 e reduction in emissions would come from reduced sugars and tubers, respectively. However, increased proteins (legumes and nuts and dairy products), added fats and vegetables and fruits would partly offset the above-reduced emissions by 41%. Intake of legumes and nuts would increase in all regions, leading to a further 757 MtCO 2 e of emissions, whereas most of the emission increase related to added fats (largely vegetable oils) (279 Mt) and dairy products (143 Mt) would take place in Sub-Saharan Africa, China and other Asian countries. Global dietary emissions associated with vegetables and fruits would increase by 163 Mt, despite declines in China and Rest of Oceania.

The decline in per capita GHG footprints would be achieved primarily in wealthy consumer groups in high- and upper-middle-income countries, while increased footprints would occur mainly in poor groups in most countries (Fig. 6a ). Results show that the shifts of chief protein sources from animal-based to plant-based proteins according to the planetary health diet 12 would contribute the most to changes in footprints globally (Fig. 6b ). For example, in Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States where diets are dominated by red meat and dairy products, the top and upper-middle expenditure groups would have notable reductions in footprints. However, most populations in South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa would have a considerable increase in footprints because of the present low levels of red meat intake. Meanwhile, the present intake of plant-based proteins in all countries is below the recommended level 25 . Footprints related to legumes and nuts would increase for most expenditure groups in all regions to meet nutrient demands. This increase is particularly substantial in Rest of Oceania, Brazil, Indonesia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the consumed legumes and nuts are domestically produced with high land-use emission intensities 59 , 60 , assuming the present production and trade patterns remain unchanged.

a , Changes in GHG footprints from all types of food categories. The size of the bubble refers to the average total expenditure represented by the decile. b , Changes in GHG footprints from different food categories. The colours of bubbles in a and b indicate expenditure deciles ranging from the poorest in blue to the wealthiest in red and are comparable only within each region.

Discussion and conclusions

This study uncovers the extent of inequality of dietary emissions within countries based on detailed expenditure data 17 , 34 and underlines the dependence of dietary emissions on expenditure and income levels. Emissions aggregated at expenditure deciles may lose some fine-grained information from the 201 expenditure groups. For example, people from the lowest expenditure groups in affluent countries may experience malnutrition or even hunger, which is not adequately captured at a decile level. Nevertheless, the GF-Gini coefficient calculated from 201 groups provides an accurate reflection of emission inequality. Results show that affluent countries consume high-emission diets but show relatively lower levels of inequality, whereas many poor countries tend to have diets with lower emissions but higher levels of inequality.

The objective of the diet shift scenario is to assess the potential implications of emission mitigation of the food system resulting from changing consumer choices. Widespread diet shifts offer dual benefits by moving 43.1% of the global population out of underconsumption and mitigating 17% of global dietary emissions. The simulated changes in the volume of global emissions under the planetary health diet approximate the findings by ref. 26 (Supplementary Discussion 1 ). However, worldwide diet shifts require tailored policies targeted at regions, countries, expenditure groups and products instead of ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies.

We find that, compared to plant-based products, animal-based products, particularly red meat and dairy products, exhibit greater potential for reducing both emission volumes and emission disparities among different expenditure groups. Priorities lie in reducing the overconsumption of specific emission-intensive products in affluent countries (particularly the high-expenditure groups), such as beef in Australia and the United States, to achieve health 9 , 12 and climate benefits 25 , 26 , 28 . Incentives, such as implementing subsidies or taxation on environmental externalities through food or carbon pricing 61 , ecolabelling 62 and expanding the availability of less emission-intensive products (for instance, menu design for diverse vegetarian foods 63 ), can encourage consumers to make dietary changes. Moreover, a well-designed (primarily urban) food environment can reshape residents’ dietary patterns 35 and the parallel development of urban planning and infrastructure can alleviate the time and financial burdens of shifts to healthier diets 64 . However, in countries such as Mongolia, where diets heavily rely on red meat and dairy products because of their traditional nomadic lifestyle and limited accessibility of diverse foods, especially in rural areas 48 , diet shifts may not be feasible but there is a need to improve national nutritional education 48 .

Low-income countries face more severe challenges in reaching healthier diets. On the one hand, diet shifts require increased food consumption in these countries. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the planetary health diet requires a 3.4-fold increase in dairy consumption for the entire population and a 69-fold increase for the poorest decile (Supplementary Fig. 22 ). However, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia, which have experienced stagnating agriculture production efficiency for decades 8 , cannot produce domestically nor afford to import the food required for diet shifts 65 . It is crucial to enhance the production efficiency of feed and food crops through various measures such as crop and soil management techniques 8 , 66 and the introduction of high-yielding crop varieties and hybrids 67 , 68 . Moreover, increasing the proportions of nutrient-rich products in food imports 65 and reducing restrictive trade policies which tend to raise food prices 25 , 69 help to address this challenge. On the other hand, poor populations often opt for lower-cost, calorie-dense but less nutritionally beneficial foods. High cost and low affordability remain the largest barriers for these individuals to select healthier diets 44 , 54 , 70 , 71 . Others 44 found that >1.58 billion low-income populations worldwide cannot afford the cost of the planetary health diet. Therefore, policy efforts (for instance, pricing interventions 72 , technical assistance to reduce food production costs 73 and so on) should focus on making food more affordable and accessible, especially for lower expenditure groups 37 , 74 . However, studies indicate that lower food prices may decrease the income of agricultural households 75 , 76 , widen wealth gaps between individuals employed in food- and non-food sectors, especially in low-income agrarian countries and exacerbate rural poverty 1 , 77 . In this sense, policies aimed at promoting diet shifts should be deliberately and cautiously designed with vulnerable groups in mind to reduce inequality 37 , 61 .

Lastly, altered food demand due to diet shifts can induce notable structural adjustments within the global agri-food system. Although this study does not assess the feasibility of countries supplying sufficient food if the planetary health diet was adopted, results indicate that the composition of global food production would change considerably to adapt to the substantial changes in demand 8 , 25 , 77 . The diet shifts would necessitate the global supply (in calorie content) of red meat decrease by 81%, all sugars by 72%, tubers by 76% and grains by 50%, while that of legumes and nuts increase by 438%, added fats by 62% and vegetables and fruits by 28% (Supplementary Data 16 ). Research 77 , 78 confirms that changed food demand could cause fluctuating prices of agricultural products and land in global markets, triggering spillover effects between different food categories or to other non-food sectors (for example, stimulating biofuel production) and partly offsetting the benefits of diet shifts. Therefore, policy-making should focus on alleviating these effects. Incentives such as increased subsidies or tax breaks can generate new economic opportunities and motivations for industries that need to scale up production to meet the heightened demand for products (for example, plant-based proteins). By contrast, for emission-intensive food industries that need to downsize, measures such as gradual crop substitution 25 , 79 could be adopted to optimize production and reduce the costs of production transformations while safeguarding the interests of producers.

In this study, we first assess the GHG emissions from diets comprising 140 products 16 (Supplementary Table 14 ) in 139 countries or areas (we collectively use the term ‘country’ because most of them are individual countries) (Supplementary Data 1 ) in 2019 based on the global consumption-based emission inventory of detailed food products from ref. 16 . The inventory 16 provides data (in mass units) of GHG emissions (including CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O) generated during supply chain processes, including agricultural land use and land-use change (LULUC), agricultural activities and beyond-farm processes (excluding emissions from household and end of life) 4 . All emissions are allocated to final consumers of food products. The year 2019 (the latest year before the COVID-19 pandemic) is selected as a baseline year, which can reflect the level of present dietary intake without the interference of the pandemic 80 , 81 . Subsequently, dietary emissions from different expenditure groups are quantified by matching diets with the household-expenditure dataset 42 to reflect the differences and potential inequality of dietary emissions. Finally, to measure the magnitude of the emission impact of the global diet shift, we model the transition from diets in 2019 to the widespread adoption of the planetary health diet. The research framework of this study is shown in Supplementary Fig. 23 .

The following data sources are mainly used in this study. The consumption-based food emissions inventory 16 is based on data derived from the FAOSTAT 82 , comprising national emission accounts of supply chain processes and data on food trade and production. Data on food loss and waste throughout the global supply chain and at the household level as well as food supply data, all used for linking emissions with diets, are obtained from FAOSTAT 83 and previous research 25 , 39 . The household-expenditure data 41 are built on the basis of the WBGCD 42 and further refined and supplemented by consumer expenditure surveys from high-income countries 17 , 41 to bridge the dietary emissions with different expenditure groups. Detailed data sources used for calculation are provided in Supplementary Table 15 . Data processing, assumptions and uncertainties for all calculations are also given.

Dietary energy intake and emissions

Accounting of food consumption and supply chain emissions.

The estimation of the present dietary emissions and the emission changes for adopting the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet 12 is based on the accounting framework designed by ref. 16 . They assess global GHG emissions induced by the consumption of food products in 181 countries based on the physical trade flow approach 84 , 85 . Consumption-based GHG emissions along global supply chains, including local production and international trade, are calculated as follows 16 , 84 :

where E i,r refers to the consumption-based GHG emission of product i in country r . G i / P i represents the vector of direct emission intensity of product i from entire food supply chain processes, of which G i denotes total emissions generated from entire supply chain process of product i , P i is the production vector of product i . \({(I-{A}^{i})}^{-1}\) is the trade structure of product i , of which A i is the matrix of export shares and I is the identity matrix with the same dimension as matrix A i . DMI i refers to the vector of direct material input of product i and DMC i,r is the vector of domestic material consumption of product i in country r with values set to zero for other countries. The DMI of a country is defined as the total inputs of products and the DMC is defined as the amount of products consumed domestically. DMI equals DMC plus exports of products (or production plus imports). F i refers to the vector of total (or consumption-based) emission intensity of product i from food supply chain processes, that is, total emissions induced by per unit of domestic consumption of product i . All variables in equation ( 1 ) are in units of mass (metric tonnes).

Feed products are excluded from diets because emissions from feed crops have been allocated to livestock products that consume feed during production 16 . Food loss and waste (FLW) along supply chains and households are subtracted to quantify the net intake amount of food products from the household stage.

Dietary calorie conversions

We use the annual per capita food supply (FS) quantity of 140 food products from the supply utilization accounts of FAOSTAT 83 and population from the United Nations 86 to calculate the total supply amount of product i in country r (FS i,r , in the unit of mass):

where \({{\rm{FS}}}_{{\rm{per}}}^{i}\) denotes the per capita supply of product i per year and p r refers to the population in country r .

To be consistently matched with the DMC , the FS values should be limited within the coverage of the DMC and values that exceed this range are removed. At the same time, to aggregate food products into food categories and compare their nutritional contents with the reference level from the planetary health diet, we convert the quantity of food consumption or supply into calorie content using product-specific nutritive factors (calories per unit weight of product) 87 , 88 from FAO (Supplementary Table 14 ).

Subtracting food loss and waste at the household level

The food supply derived from FAOSTAT datasets does not exclude FLW that happens during household consumption 25 . FLW before dietary intake can be divided into two parts: the FLW during supply chain processes (including agricultural production, postharvest handling and storage, processing and packaging and distribution) as well as the FLW during the food preparation and supply for household consumption 39 , 40 . The food supply value provided by FAOSTAT only excludes FLW during supply chain processes. Therefore, we exclude household FLW using the method by ref. 25 to calculate the annual dietary intake for each product as follows:

where DI i,r and \({{\rm{DI}}}_{{\rm{per}}}^{i,r}\) refer to the national and per capita caloric intake amount of product i in country r each year, respectively. \({{\rm{FS}}}_{{\rm{energy}}}^{i,r}\) and \({{\rm{FS}}}_{{\rm{energy}\_per}}^{i,r}\) are the national and per capita supply quantity (in calorie content) of product i annually, respectively. Parameter \({f}_{{\rm{FLW}}}^{\;i,r}\) is the FLW factor in the household consumption stage 39 of food product i in country r . Others 39 provide regional FLW factors, expressed as the weight percentage of food that is lost or wasted at different stages of food production and consumption, for different food categories. As a result, household food waste is subtracted from the FS to obtain the dietary intake amount of each product. Detailed household FLW factors are shown in Supplementary Table 16 .

Quantifying dietary GHG emissions

Our equation ( 1 ) can be transformed into the following equation to calculate the total emission intensity of food calorie consumption:

where \({F}_{{\rm{energy}}}^{\,i,r}\) represents total emissions per unit of calorie content of product i in country r , \({{\rm{DMC}}}_{{\rm{energy}}}^{i,r}\) refers to total calorie content of product i consumed domestically in country r . Then, emissions from the dietary intake (without FLW) of product i in country r ( \({E}_{{\rm{intake}}}^{\,i,r}\) ) are calculated as follows:

Classification of food categories

The EAT-Lancet Commission report provides coverage of different food categories in the planetary health diet and their recommended caloric intake levels at 2,500 kcal for adults each day 12 (Supplementary Table 17 ). In this study, we classify 140 products into 13 aggregated food categories according to the planetary health diet 12 , including grains, tubers or starchy vegetables, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, red meat (beef, lamb and pork), chicken and other poultry, eggs, fish, legumes, nuts, added fats (both unsaturated and saturated oils) and all sugars. On the basis of the data availability of the FAOSTAT 4 , 82 , the food products in this study include both primary and processed products (primary and secondary food processing) which can be classified into specific food categories 16 . Ultraprocessed products that combine ingredients from several food categories, such as ice creams made from both dairy and sugar, are not considered. Detailed coverages of each food category and their mapping relationship with specific products are shown in Supplementary Table 18 .

Matching diets with the household-expenditure dataset

We explore the dietary emissions from consumers with different expenditure levels (defined as expenditure groups) using the household-expenditure dataset 41 for the year 2011. The dataset, containing 116 countries and almost 90% of the global population (Supplementary Table 19 ), is primarily based on the household survey microdata from the WBGCD 42 , supplemented by consumer expenditure surveys of national statistical offices from high-income countries such as the United States and European countries 17 , 41 . For every country in the dataset, 201 expenditure groups (grouped according to the per capita total expenditure of each group) and the corresponding population share are listed. The annual per capita expenditure of people in different expenditure groups ranges from <US$50 to ~US$1 million per year (expressed in 2011 Purchasing Power Parities, PPP) 31 , 34 . For each expenditure group, the expenditure for 33 different sectors of goods and services (including 11 food items) and the corresponding expenditure share in national consumption of each sector are provided 31 , 34 , 41 . For some affluent (or poor) countries that do not have a sufficient representative number of people at the bottom (or top) end of the expenditure spectrum, the population in the corresponding expenditure groups is empty. Expenditure shares of 11 food items are matched with the 140 products in this study (Supplementary Table 20 ). We calculate the dietary intake of different food products for each expenditure group in each country by multiplying the food expenditure share of groups with the total dietary intake amounts of food products of each country.

This study assumes that the amount of food consumption is proportionate to food expenditures and the purchasing price for the same product is unchanged across 201 groups ignoring higher prices for high-quality or luxury food items within the same food category. Although the assumption of an unchanged purchasing price is an unsolved limitation shared by similar studies using monetary expenditure data 31 , 34 , 41 , household expenditures on food can still effectively highlight the differences in food consumption and emissions across consumer groups with different affordability of, and spending on, food. We also assume that the proportion of food sources from local production and trade for the same food category remains constant across the 201 groups. In other words, the magnitude of dietary emissions is solely determined by the size and pattern of food expenditure of each group and the associated supply chains for each food consumption item.

For countries that are major food consumers (and emitters) but without data in WBGCD, expenditure shares from countries with similar development levels and eating habits and neighbouring geographical locations are used to calculate the distribution of their food expenditure. We finally select 201 expenditure groups in 139 countries/areas, covering 95% of the global population in 2019 (Supplementary Table 3 and Supplementary Data 3 ). Details for dealing with missing data are provided in Supplementary Table 7 . Countries or areas are then classified into 18 regions for comparison according to geographical locations (Supplementary Table 8 ). The WBGCD expenditure data from the year 2011 are adjusted to PPP in 2019 to represent the expenditure level of populations in figures. Results of emissions from 13 types of food categories of 201 expenditure groups at the national and regional levels are shown in Supplementary Data 8 , 10 and 11 .

Analysis of GF-Gini coefficients

Calculation of gf-gini coefficients.

This study uses the GF-Gini coefficient 33 , 89 , which is based on the well-known Gini coefficient 90 , to measure the inequality of GHG footprints from 201 expenditure groups within countries, regions and globally. The GF-Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, indicating the emission distribution across expenditure groups changes from perfect equality to perfect inequality. The GF-Gini coefficient of each food category is calculated as 33 :

where Gini j indicate the GF-Gini coefficient of food category j (including product i , i  = 1, 2, 3, …, n ). Expenditure groups and their population are reordered in ascending order of per capita GHG footprint of food category j and m refers to the reordered number of groups ( m  = 1, 2, 3, …, 201). \({D}_{m}^{j}\) and \({Y}_{m}^{j}\) represent the proportions of population and GHG footprints (of food category j ) for each expenditure group, respectively. \({T}_{m}^{j}\) is the cumulative proportion of GHG footprints of each expenditure group. The results of national, regional and global GF-Gini coefficients are shown in Supplementary Tables 9 and 10 .

Regression analysis

We use the regression approach to examine the relationship between the national GF-Gini coefficients and the per capita GDP 91 , 92 of 139 countries/areas. The GF-Gini coefficient of each country is regarded as the dependent variable ( y ) and the national per capita GDP acts as the independent variable ( x ). Initially, locally weighted regression is applied to illustrate the trend lines within the scatterplot. Subsequently, we test different regression methods for validation based on the general trend. Ultimately, we found that logarithmic regression is the most fitting for dietary emissions of most food categories, particularly in the case of animal-based products. Thus, the logarithmic regression is applied.

Scenario of the planetary health diet

Scenario setting and assumptions.

To estimate the emission changes resulting from the transition from the 2019 diet to the global planetary health diet, we build a hypothetical scenario by assuming that individuals belonging to 201 different expenditure groups in all countries will all reach the reference intake level of 13 types of food categories 12 . First, we assume that the proportion of food sources from local production and trade in each country is unchanged, that is, emission changes from dietary shifts would be calculated on the basis of emissions from local production and imports accounting for emissions along global food supply chains, similar to studies by refs. 25 , 26 . At the same time, emission changes induced by decreased food consumption in countries following the planetary health diet, such as carbon uptake from agriculture abandonment 59 or emission increase from non-food biomass production in saved agricultural land 77 , are not considered in this study. Second, we assume that agricultural and food-related production technology, trade patterns and emission intensities of food supply chain processes remain unchanged during the diet transition. Third, fluctuations in food prices induced by altered food demand or the affordability of the planetary health diet for different consumer groups are not considered in this study.

Diet gaps for different food categories

The diet gap (DG) reflects gaps between present dietary intake and the planetary health diet 12 , 25 , as follows:

where \({{\rm{DG}}}_{{\rm{per}}}^{j,r}\) is defined as the percentage ratio of the present per capita caloric intake of food category j in country r each year ( \({{\rm{DI}}}_{{\rm{per}}}^{\,j,r}\) ) to the annual reference level ( \({{\rm{DI}}}_{{\rm{EAT}}\_{\rm{per}}}^{i}\) ). \({{\rm{DI}}}_{{\rm{EAT}\_day\_per}}^{\,j}\) is the recommended per capita caloric intake of food category j each day 12 (Supplementary Table 17 ). We assume a uniform annual calorie reference level for each food category across all populations in all countries. We allow flexibility in local diets by keeping the composition of each food category unchanged, requiring only that the calorie content reaches the reference level. According to the definition, present food intake is considered insufficient compared with reference levels when DG is <100%, while it is deemed excessive and should be reduced when DG is >100%. Daily per capita caloric intake of food categories from 201 expenditure groups of countries or regions are shown in Supplementary Data 12 and 13 . We calculate the DG for food categories of 201 expenditure groups at national and regional levels (Supplementary Data 14 and 15 ).

According to equation ( 1 ), the total emissions per unit of calorie content of food category j in country r ( \({F}_{{\rm{energy}}}^{\;j,r}\) ) can be calculated as:

where E j,r refers to the national emissions due to consumption of food category j in country r . Thus, emission changes for adopting the planetary health diet are calculated as follows:

where \(\Delta {E}_{{\rm{intake}}}^{\;j,r}\) represents the national emission changes of food category j in country r , \({E}_{{\rm{intake}}}^{\;j,r}\) is the national emissions from intake of food category j in country r . Changes in dietary emissions of food categories from 201 groups are shown in Supplementary Data 9 . The number of people with increased/decreased emissions from 201 groups is shown in Supplementary Data 19 .

Uncertainty analysis

We assess the uncertainty range of dietary emissions from different food products using a Monte Carlo approach, which simulates the uncertainties caused by activity data, emission factors and parameters in each emission process 16 , 59 , 93 . More details can be found in Supplementary Methods 1 .

Limitations

This study has the following limitations regarding data analysis and scenario setting.

In terms of data analysis, this study is limited by the data availability. First, we use regional household food loss and waste factors of aggregated food categories without more detailed product division at the national level because of a lack of data. There might also be differences between calculated and actual food intake amounts that are unable to be removed, such as animal bones or fruit skins 25 . Second, we use the consumer household-expenditure dataset based on WBGCD for the year 2011, which provides the most precise and detailed differentiation of consumer groups and their consumption patterns within countries so far. We assume that the shares in food expenditure and population for each expenditure group are the same as in 2011. Third, we assume that the composition of different products aggregated in one category consumed by expenditure groups is the same as the national consumption composition and there is no difference in the price of food products purchased by people from different expenditure groups. In addition, data for some populous high- or upper-middle-income countries are missing from the household-expenditure dataset. However, the countries are the world’s major food consumers and emitters, their emission changes due to diet shifts are important for the global food system. We use the expenditure shares of similar countries in the household-expenditure dataset to allocate the distributions of food expenditure in these countries.

In terms of scenario setting, we focus on the impact induced by changes in consumer choices without changing the proportion of food supply sources (domestic production and imports). We do not consider altering the proportions of supply sources and associated emissions in this study. However, future studies may explore the impacts of the production side and supply chains for diet shifts. Moreover, as we focus on the present emission inequality and mitigation potentials within the food system, we assume that the income and expenditure levels of expenditure groups remain unchanged. However, a shift in food supply may affect household income and subsequently alter the household food budgets, especially for populations employed in, or countries reliant on, food-related sectors. Additionally, as a result of data and model limitations, this study does not consider price fluctuations induced by food demand and subsequent changes in household affordability or spillover effects (between food categories or to non-food sectors). Future studies may combine assessment models incorporating elasticities to project the long-term feasibilities and consequences of diet shifts.

Reporting summary

Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

Data for LULUC, agricultural and beyond-farm emissions and data for physical food consumption are curated by the FAO and can be freely obtained from FAOSTAT 82 , available from ref. 16 . Data of food loss and waste rate are retrieved from FAOSTAT 82 and ref. 25 . The global household-expenditure data are obtained from the World Bank 42 and refs. 17 , 41 . Population data used in this study are obtained from World Population Prospects of the United Nations 86 . Data on per capita GDP in countries can be collected from the World Bank 91 and the International Monetary Fund 92 . Supplementary datasets are also available on Zenodo ( https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11934909 ) 94 . Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

Data collection is performed in MATLAB and Microsoft Excel. Code developed for data processing in MATLAB and R in this study is available from Zenodo ( https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11880402 ) 95 .

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 72243004, 32101315, 71904098). Y.S. and S.S. acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 72243004). Yu Li acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32101315). P.H. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under a Young Scholar Programme Grant (grant no. 71904098). Yanxian Li and Y.H. acknowledge the funding support by the China Scholarship Council PhD programme. We thank Y. Zhou for supporting visualization and J. Yan for assisting in writing and revising. For the purpose of open access, a CC BY public copyright license is applied to any author accepted manuscript arising from this submission.

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Yanxian Li, Franco Ruzzenenti & Klaus Hubacek

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Yuli Shan & Ye Hang

School of Public Administration, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China

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Yanxian Li, Y.S. and K.H. designed the research. Yanxian Li performed the analysis with support from P.H., Yu Li, Y.H. and S.S. on analytical approaches and visualization. Yanxian Li led the writing with efforts from P.H., Y.S., F.R. and K.H. Y.S. and K.H. supervised and coordinated the overall research. All co-authors reviewed and commented on the manuscript.

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Li, Y., He, P., Shan, Y. et al. Reducing climate change impacts from the global food system through diet shifts. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02084-1

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Home — Essay Samples — Science — Food Safety — Global Food Insecurity: Causes And Solutions

Global Food Insecurity: Causes and Solutions

• Categories: Food Safety World Food Crisis

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Published: May 17, 2022

Words: 2149 | Pages: 5 | 11 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, section i. background, section ii. technologies that can reduce hunger and improve food security, section iii. specific factors in chosen developing country.

• Chad de Guzman. 2018. CNN Philippines. Philippines food security ranking goes up. Retrieved from https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/10/18/Global-Food-Security-Index-2018-Philippines.html
• HealthyPeople.gov. 2020. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Food Insecurity. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity
• World Resources Institute. 2018. How to Sustainably Feed 10 Billion People by 2050, in 21 Charts? Retrieved from https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/12/how-sustainably-feed-10-billion-people-2050-21-charts
• Bread for the World. 2020. About Hunger. Who Experiences Hunger. Retrieved from https://www.bread.org/who-experiences-hunger
• World Food Programme. Philippines: World Food Programme Clarification on Yolanda Response Funds. Retrieved from https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-statement-yolanda-reponse-funds
• Bill Gates. 2017. The tech solutions to end global hunger. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/health/tech-apps-solving-global-hunger-famine/index.html
• iCow. 2020. We aim to secure food production. Retrieved from https://www.icow.co.ke/
• WordPress. 2020. Kilimo Salama. Since we cannot control the weather. Retrieved from https://kilimosalama.wordpress.com/about/
• Grameen Foundation. 2020. The end of poverty is finally within reach. Retrieved from https://grameenfoundation.org/?url=https://grameenfoundation.org/&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkKnyBRDwARIsALtxe7iX8k7sJWnhLUIi7-zh8cEXVS_OvdMq4hAD4Hq9n-rW4O3wM2oniP0aAgo3EALw_wcB
• Kiko Pangilinan. 2016. P-Noy Becoming a Farmer Upon Retirement a Big Boost to PH Farmers, Agriculture. Retrieved from https://kikopangilinan.com/2016/03/18/pangilinan-p-noy-becoming-a-farmer-upon-retirement-a-big-boost-to-ph-farmers-agriculture/
• OXFAM. 2020. The power of people against poverty. Retrieved from https://philippines.oxfam.org/
• Investopedia. 2019. How Corruption Affects Emerging Economies. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/012215/how-corruption-affects-emerging-economies.asp

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Recognizing and tackling a global food crisis

Globally, over 200 million people are facing emergency and famine conditions.

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This year, acute food insecurity is projected to reach a new peak, surpassing the food crisis experienced in 2007-2008. A combination of factors—including greater poverty and supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, and high commodity prices—has increased food and nutrition insecurity. This is a multifaceted crisis, affecting access to and availability of food, with long-term consequences for health and productivity. The World Bank has scaled up its efforts to bolster food security, reduce risks, and strengthen food systems over the short and long term. Urgent action is needed across governments and multilateral partners to avert a severe and prolonged food crisis.

Declining food access and availability, with high risks

For most countries, domestic food prices have risen sharply in 2022, compromising access to food—particularly for low-income households, who spend the majority of their incomes on food and are especially vulnerable to food price increases. Higher food inflation followed a sharp spike in global food commodity prices, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. Average global wheat, maize, and rice prices were respectively 18 percent, 27 percent, and 10 percent higher in October 2022 relative to October 2021.

At the same time, food availability is declining. For the first time in a decade, global cereal production will fall in 2022 relative to 2021. More countries are relying on existing food stocks and reserves to fill the gap, raising the risk if the current crisis persists. And rising energy and fertilizer prices—key inputs to produce food—threaten production for the next season, especially in net fertilizer-importing countries and regions like East Africa.

These trends are already affecting health. Stunting and wasting in children, and anaemia in pregnant women, are increasing as households are less able to include sufficient nutrition in their diets. A recent World Bank survey indicated that 42 percent of households across all countries covered were unable to eat healthy or nutritious food in the previous 30 days. These health effects carry long-term consequences for the ability to learn and work, and therefore escape poverty.

Globally, food security is under threat beyond just the immediate crisis. Growing public debt burdens, currency depreciation, higher inflation, increasing interest rates, and the rising risk of a global recession may compound access to and availability of food, especially for importing countries. At the same time, the agricultural food sector is both vulnerable and a contributor to climate change, responsible for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. And agricultural productivity growth is not staying ahead of the impacts of climate change, contributing to more food-related shocks. For example, an unprecedented multi-season drought has worsened food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, with Somalia on the verge of famine.

Managing the crisis and preparing for the future

The World Bank is responding to this escalating crisis with four areas of actions: (i) supporting production and producers, (ii) facilitating increased trade in food and production inputs, (iii) supporting vulnerable households, and (iv) investing in sustainable food security. It has made over $26 billion available for short- and long-term food security interventions in 69 countries, including active interventions in 22 of the 24 hunger hotspots identified as countries with the most pressing needs by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme. Since April 2022, the World Bank has disbursed $8.1 billion, approximately evenly split between crisis response and long-term resilience projects. In the short term, projects like the Emergency Project to Combat the Food Crisis in Cameroon will provide 98,490 beneficiaries with emergency food and nutrition assistance with support from the World Food Programme. In addition to supporting vulnerable households, governments of food-exporting countries can improve global food security by limiting measures like export bans and stockpiling of food. In the longer term, governments can make an enormous difference by repurposing public spending on agricultural policies and support for a more resilient and sustainable food system that directly improves health, economies, and the planet.

These actions and newly released funding underline the scale of the crisis. Timely, coordinated, and sustained action through partnerships such as the Global Alliance on Food Security can maximize the impact of new policies and funding, and mitigate the scale of the crisis. The time to act is now.

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The role of technology in achieving global food security.

Global food security implies that all people throughout the world, including vulnerable groups such as the rural and urban poor, at all times have access to adequate quantities of safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Food security is a right that should be embraced by all countries, irrespective of their level of technical, economic and social development. Food security is essential to a country but it is challenged by factors such as: lack of education and political instability; inadequate planning and policies; lack of transparency and improper governance, financing; slow paces in technology development and other governance issues. Improving these factors should contribute to improved food intake and less hunger. I believe that technology can contribute to the achievement of global food security.

The term technology is broad and is defined as the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes in the production of goods. The technology required to be food secure is country-specific. It depends on physical environment, infrastructure, climate, culture, literacy, economic conditions and governance. Developing countries typically develop food security strategies following paths and processes that are different from those adopted by developed countries. In developing countries, technologies to achieve food security span a wide range of subject areas, including land preparation, soil and water management, seed production, weed management, pest and disease control, farm management, harvesting and such post-harvest practices like storage, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution. Efficient irrigation technologies, water harvesting and conservation techniques can address water constraints in sub-Saharan Africa. Poor soils, water scarcity, crop pests/diseases/weeds, and unsuitable temperatures are well-known to reduce the productivity of food crops, leading to low efficiency of input use, suppressed crop output and ultimately reduced food security. Post-harvest losses of crops carry the burden of all resources consumed in producing the harvest that is lost. Storage and processing technologies in root and tuber crops, such as cassava and sweet potato, minimizes rates of post-harvest spoilage. Pests and diseases are frequent constraints and can significantly reduce crop productivity. Some of the technologies hasten completion of a task and at a lower cost. Moreover, food diversity is very important to meet required nutrition levels.

Food security in developing countries is further complicated by social equality and political stability. People lacking food security will search for a better life elsewhere. Food insecurity and hunger have led to the displacement of millions, and migration brought about by food insecurity has destabilized several countries. Complicating the situation even more, even when people may have enough to eat, they still may be unhealthy due to poor diets that lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other malign conditions. Technology can help provide basic and extra food choices to vulnerable populations. This can come from improved crop varieties, for example orange-fleshed sweet potato added into a basket of purple- or white-fleshed sweet potato or iron rich beans. It can help restore political stability by ensuring that the production of food is based on: efficient agricultural activities; sustainable practices; high productivity from well adapted, improved crop varieties; dynamic employment and revenue generation for large numbers of people. Technology can support improved economic growth and social well-being; effective harvest and post-harvest practices to minimize food loss; effective storage and conservation practices to increase the value of harvested products; identification of high value added products to improve economic gains for processors and ensure long shelf-life and enhanced marketing of available foodstuffs at competitive prices, based on effective government policies.

Food security can be achieved by using knowledge of the best practices based on science. Technological packages have to be well chosen and be appropriate for local contexts so that they are used by a range of actors along the production to consumption chain. The effectiveness of the whole process will depend on location, farm sizes, farmer literacy, access to information and government policies and their enforcement. For example, some countries may use genetically modified seed whereas others will not. The choice will therefore depend on a deliberate, pragmatic and systematic analysis of the needs of each country.

Technologies used in achieving food security should ensure high quality food products. Low food quality exposes the population to poor nutrition and food safety issues, which in turn create a burden on the society, affecting overall socio-economic well-being. This issue of quality should be taken into account when making choices about types of staple crops, post-harvest practices and processing and packaging of finished products that are safe for consumption.

To ensure that food security is indeed global, the availability and use of technology should include a large number of trained professionals with the expertise needed in the different areas mentioned earlier. Training will be required, but without this there will be very little research and innovation, and adequately sized and dynamic businesses will not be developed to provide the needed sustained output of knowledge, skills and products.

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Global Food Security

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Introdaction

Food security, food system, climate change, international organizations involvement, bibliography.

The aim of this essay writing is to enhance the understanding of global food security and what factors that affect to the conditions of food security. This essay also include what aspect needs to be improved in order to develop food security nowadays. The method I am using in writing this essay is descriptive essay. According to some sources I have read, food security is really important to be noticed especially in global level. Global food security is important to see whether a country needs to improve or maintain something for their food security. Thus, in this paper I will explain about some factors that food security is affected by, such as food system, nutrition and climate change. However, those factors also have their own challenges that need to be overcome and some other impacts they give toward the four basis of food security. in this issue, the International Organization would also take part in avoiding food insecurity and improving global food security.

Key Words: Global Food Security, Food System, Nutrition, Climate Change, International Organization

Food security is about the ability of every human being physically, economically, and socially to gain access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to accommodate their dietary plans and food preferences in order to get a healthy life. The conditions of food security nowadays are affected from so many factors such as food system, nutrition, and climate change that would contribute in either the development of food security or retreat of food security that will lead to the global food insecurity. There are also four basis of food security, which are availability, accessibility, utilizations and stability. These four basis would help finding every country’s food security conditions.

The conditions of food system are affecting the decisions of every human being on their dietary plans, nutritional status and the sustainability of food system. The amount of adequate food consumed by human also measures the conditions of food system nowadays since it is every human being’s right to gain adequate foods.

Another thing that affects the conditions of food security nowadays is nutrition. Nutrition is the most concerning one. The concern of nutrition of food security includes malnutrition and hunger that would rapidly escalates into a more critical conditions if it doesn’t being overcome soon. This condition could bring the set back of global food security. However, to overcome this issue, agricultural sector must play roles in improving nutrition and food security.

However, climate change also plays important role in global food security where it is actually the root cause of food insecurity. Climate change is a major challenge for global food security specially in dryland such as Africa and Middle East. It also gives potential impact on the four basis of food security. In this issue, International Organization takes part to overcome and avoid food insecurity and also develop the sustainability of food security.

This essay I am writing is important to be discussed because global food security gives major impacts on human being’s condition and how they would be able to survive to gain adequate food. Hence, global food security is also important to understand global food security index so that we could find out which country needs to be improved and what aspects each country should maintain or develop.

When we are talking about food security, the most important thing we should look after is about the way to obtain the existence of food security. There are four basis of food security that would help obtaining the existence of food security which are availability, accessibility, utilizations, and stability. These four basis would eventually find the conditions of every country’s food security conditions. However, we shall remember that there are so many factors that would either encourage the development of food security or retreat the development itself. That is why food security is not only involve the policies made by the government but also every human being that exist and their behavior both in household and individual level.

There are more things that are affecting the conditions of global food security today. The first one would be food system. Food system is effecting the decisions of every human being in on their dietary plans, nutritional status and the sustainability in three dimensions: economics; social; and environment. There are also three elements of food system which are food supply chain; food environment; and consumer behavior.

The food supply chain includes all food activities starting from the production of food to the consumption of the food that also includes production, storage, distributions etc. These activities eventually influence the availability and accessibility and how they are produced and consumed. Another element of food supply would be the food environment which indicate to how consumer engage with the food system to gain and consume food. Someone’s affordability is also the key elements of the food environment that influence food choice and diets. The last element of food supply would be the consumer behavior which shows the way consumer make choices either at household or individual level. Other than that, the consumer behavior is influenced by their personal preference that comes from their taste preference and cultural background.

Another thing needs to be paid attention would be food system vulnerability when one or more of the basis of food security –food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability- is in an insecure or uncertain condition. Food availability is driven by the conditions of the quantities of the produced, stored, and processed food. This conditions consider the importance of international trade and domestic production to make sure that the country has sufficient food supply and to determine the adequacy of a household’s food supply balanced by domestic market. Whilst food accessibility is a measure of human’s ability to gain access to food. However, the availability of adequate food in this case does not ensure that every person can gain or consume the food before they get the access to it through their entitlements. The other food supply vulnerability is food utilization which is the way how a person uses the food they consumed and how they are able to protect the main nutrient. Food utilization also determine the value of food nutrition in order to reach a good standard for food to be consumed. The last food system vulnerability is food stability that is determined by the availability and access to food that should maintain the mechanism of food security to avoid food insecurity.

Aside from food system, nutrition would also be another thing that is affecting the conditions of food security since every human being has a right to gain adequate food. The concern of the nutrition in food security would be malnutrition (obesity, overweight, etc.) and hunger that would be rapidly escalate into a more critical conditions if there are no things done to overcome this issue. This concern would actually inhibit the development of global food security. however, to overcome nutritional issue, hunger and malnutrition won’t be able to be overcome by economic growth.

In order to improve food security and nutrition, agricultural development plays a major role since it is the source of income for most people who live in poverty. That is why over many years, based on many countries, agricultural development and economy growth are important to improve food security and nutrition. however, the powerful engine to the development of agriculture would be the livestock sector which drive the major economic, social and environmental changes in food system.

Another factor that contributes to the conditions of food security would be climate change which is the root cause of food insecurity. Hence, climate change should be acknowledged to have contribution and effect on the condition of food security. Besides, climate change is also a major challenge of food security especially its effect on drylands in Africa and Middle East which will give significant impacts on water availability that would inhibit the crops productions. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries are also sensitive when it comes to climate. Climate will affect and risk the production process due to natural resources exploitations, land degradations and depletion of natural resources. Other than that, climate change also affecting livestock system by reducing the quality and quantity of feed for livestock, giving livestock extreme climate, dissemination of disease and water availability for livestock.

At some points, climate change also gives potential impact to four basis of food security. the first one would be the impact of climate change on food availability which is also going to affect the production of food and agricultural commodities that involves. Some research says that most impact from climate change would be on agricultural production especially crops. International trade also takes part in food availability seeing that due to the changes in climatic conditions some areas would be needing more food because they can’t produce food in drought season. Besides food availability, climate change also gives potential impact on food access. Food allocation is usually through markets and non-markets distribution mechanism that will determine whether people would have sufficient food. People’s access to gain sufficient food through markets would be determined by someone’s affordability. While through non market mechanism, climate change gives impact on food production which mostly done by household. It gives impact by reducing the food availability in some allocations. On the other hand, climate change also gives potential impact on food utilization. In this case, there is usually an association between food insecurity and malnutrition since some people are unable to get an adequate food that requires nutrition. thus, climate change actually affects nutritional status due to water scarcity even though this impact happens indirectly. Climate change will cause patterns of pests and disease that would emerge toward plants, animal, human and would give risk to food security and human health. The last one that climate change affects would be on food stability. Climate change is affecting the maintenance of the continuity of food supply knowing that some productions are seasonal. Thus, this is seen as a challenge since it could bring food insecurity and food emergencies.

To overcome food insecurity, Committee in World Food Security in CFS session provides framework that stakeholder can use in developing national policies, programmes, and regulations which address the investment in agriculture and food system activity. United Nations also gives approach to support the sustainable of food and nutrition security:

“The UCFA summary presents ten key principles for action: twin-tracks to food and nutrition security; the need for a comprehensive approach; smallholders, particularly women, at the centre of actions; increased focus on resilience of household livelihoods; more and better investments in food and nutrition security; importance of open and well-functioning markets and trade; the value of multi-stakeholder and multi-sectorial partnerships; sustained political commitment and good governance; strategies led by countries with regional support; and accountability for results”

In conclude, global food security is still important to notice since it is related and give impact to every human being in the world. Global food security is not always about taking care of the food that is ready to be consumed by people but also how this food can be gained, how human can get access to gain adequate food, and how every country’s food security condition is different. There are some aspects that each country needs to improve so that food insecurity will not happen to their country.

Global Food Security must be noticed when it includes all human activities in gaining proper food since it is every human’s right to consume adequate food. This global food security also helps country to determine their own policy and food system in order to get sustainable food consumption, such as how they should improve in agricultural sector and livestock sector.

In order to overcome or develop the conditions of food global food security, there are some International Organization such as United Nations that takes part in maintaining and developing food security whether with nutrition, food system, and the sustainability of food security. some International platform also take part in avoiding food insecurity such as Committee of World Food Security.

However, I believe global food security does not only have to be taken care by government or even International Relation. Every human being is also responsible to contribute into the development of global food security event though it only come from one small actions.

• Committee on World Food Security. 2017. “Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition.”
• Food and Agicultural Organization. 2008. “Climate Change and Food Security : A Framework Document”. Rome.
• HLPE. 2017. “Nutrition and Food Systems.”
• HLPE. 2016. “Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition: What Roles For Livestock?.”

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Global Food Security. (2020, Sep 04). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/global-food-security/

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