(Unicef/Asselin)
By Jéssica Albuquerque, for NINJA Collaborative at COP26
Climate change impacts food security and could cause a substantial production deficit in staple food crops, especially in Africa. According to projections by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Fida, based on current climatic conditions, staple food crops could decline, by at least, 80 percent by 2050, in eight African countries.
The absence of assistance to less developed countries makes it impossible to combat the vulnerability of people who socially already suffer the burden of social inequality. To the UN, the Vice President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department of Fida, Jyotsna Puri, affirmed that “for every US$ 18 spent on mitigation, only US$ 1 is used for initiatives to adapt to the new challenges”.
Unfortunately, this is not a concern to be thought about for the long term, once we are living in times of instability and rapid transformations. The oscillation in relation to food prices, for example, is influence of climate interference on production. The document also points out that “all over the world one in ten people live with hunger. On the African continent, the number rises to one in five people”.
And thinking about alternatives to contain these impacts on society and on countries such as Africa, the report’s conclusion proposes that “the recommended investments include encouraging the planting of locally adapted and diversified alternative crops; the use of different planting techniques, strengthening storage and processing capacities and infrastructure, and climate-proof value chains, and requires improved access to and management of irrigation.
Meanwhile this does not happen, the population waits adrift for references, agreements, and fulfillment of such concessions so that they can guarantee the basics for survival, since they are daily the ones most affected by inequality and environmental racism.
Translated by Fatima Ventura