But all hope is not lost if decisive action is taken
Not to guilt trip anyone – but we should be ashamed of ourselves for the food we waste. I say so because, while many of us are living within intrinsically oppressed societies, yes, very hard lives of constant drudgery, stress, and worry. We partake almost zombified in a global system that allows mass wastage. While our brothers and sisters across the world, according to UN data – over 828 million – go to sleep hungry each night.
There will come a time when we will not have as much as we have today, when the earth itself will stop giving – simply because have we taken too much. The foundation of our modern civilization is based on the discovery of agriculture more than 12,000 years ago, indeed, we may never have gotten this far if our ancestors (I understand our mothers) did not figure out crop cycles, sowing, tending, and reaping.
Agricultural systems created our modern world
Growing a surplus of food became the most important task to our human ancestors – that led to the creation of the city-state, which led to war among those states, and progressively advancing systems of social stratification to control and protect the crop commodities and wealth it produced. This need for the basic resource of life is still at the very core of our modern existence, we are in essence, still seeking food and water daily.
If modern humans failed to find a way to feed their populations, “society” per se, would have no time to form. Art, music, and technology utilized across the ancient world were made possible by the surplus of food. Not having to chase your meals down each day has its advantages. When this is achieved populations naturally became larger, thinkers became more widespread, and the generation of energy to fuel economies became a necessary evil. The age of the Anthropocene begins.
Conflicts, consequences and responsibility
But in the so-called modern era, the advancement of mass food production which led to the boom in populations worldwide also resulted in soil degradation and pollution which is worsening climate change. Food security for the globe has never been this iffy, and with a war in Eastern Europe driving up prices of fertilizers globally, putting a chokehold on grain exports – food in years to come will become more expensive the UN suggests.
Naturally, this will impact prices and food security in the most vulnerable countries first, nations that have lost their own food sovereignty due to the very global system which forces dependence on it.
At home…
Latin America and the Caribbean contribute less than 10% of greenhouse gas emitted globally, recent studies state. Our export of agricultural and other commodities that drive the economies of many nations in the region also accounts for a significant chuck of the emission the region produces.
Yet, the emission generated by those countries in LATAM is nothing compared to the modern and traditional emissions of major economies across the world. Additionally, these small nations face the direct and present impacts of climate change and are among the poorest in the world.
A sensitive food system
The agricultural sector has become increasingly sensitive to the impact of climate change. Farmers across various countries are forced to adapt to variations in weather patterns and modify crop cycles where possible. For mono-agricultural crops – longstanding economic earners – the changing rain patterns, extended droughts, and impact from natural disasters like hurricanes and floods made stronger by climate change poised an immediate threat. Along with this, the practice compound unsustainable land use and often times result in the mass destruction of forests.
Studies suggest that developing countries will absorb 75% to 85 % of the cost of damage caused by climate variations in years to come. Those countries consist largely of agricultural societies highly dependent on the production and export sale of locally grown produce to survive economically. Yet adaptation measures to safeguard those systems with climate-smart agricultural solutions continue to lag behind.
Global hunger reaching more doorsteps
According to the UN, the number of people who face food insecurity has increased from 135 million to 345 million since 2019. They estimate that 49 million people will go hungry in 49 countries currently “teetering on the edge of famine”.
It is estimated that between 2008 and 2018, more than 80% of drought damage worldwide was absorbed by these nations. Crop and livestock losses in these countries during the time frame equal enough calories to feed 7 million people per year.
All hope is not lost: adaptation is possible but international support lacking
Farmers are a hearty lot, never bending to defeat so easily since they understand that the land gives, and takes away. Technology to ensure and increase crop production has been created and is widely used internationally. But often times small and medium producers in the agricultural industry in these vulnerable countries lack the financial resources to scale up their operations with climate-smart agricultural technology.
Wider use of greenhouses, irrigation technology, and the ability to implement environmentally friendly fertilizers in agricultural practices are oftentimes simply out of reach for farmers in the global south. Global food security hinges on the ability to retrofit these small and medium agricultural holdings sustainably to ensure continued food production.
Truth is, climate change, conflict, and covid have really battered the world with a continued triple threat. The world is still trying to recover from the economic impact brought on by the covid-19 pandemic, all while the virus continues affecting the livelihood of citizens in vulnerable countries where vaccination lags behind.
The UN Commodity Markets Outlook published in April 2022 says that the war in Ukraine will result in global consumption prices remaining at historically high levels until the end of 2024. Energy prices are the highest since the 1973 oil crisis.
The fighting nations are both major producers of fertilizers – go figure… So much trouble in the world…
