Devex offices are closed this week for a summer break. Instead of our regular Newswire, we’re taking deep dives into some of this year’s key development topics. Today, we dig into the connections between food systems and climate change.
There was a brief glimmer of hope at the beginning of the year that transforming food systems was finally on the global agenda, following the United Nations Food Systems Summit last September and the Nutrition for Growth summit in December. Coupled with the attention on climate at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties — and the recognition by nutrition advocates that climate and food go hand in hand — there was a sense that although a lot of work was ahead, the community was on the right track.
That all crumbled on Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, which exported 10% of the world’s wheat in 2021 and only last week got trapped grain out of its silos for the first time since the war began. The conflict also spiked fertilizer prices, and along with rising fuel costs, has sent people around the world to the streets protesting unaffordable food costs. My colleague Shabtai Gold and I took a look at what we can learn from the last food price crisis, and what to expect as rising prices and climate shocks continue to ripple throughout the food system.
The rising costs of basic staple foods puts a nutritious diet even further out of the reach of those already struggling to make ends meet, with this year’s “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report confirming what many already suspected: Global hunger has not recovered since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, leaving as many as 828 million people hungry in 2021.
On Monday, you received my colleague Sara Jerving’s deep dive on some of the places feeling the repercussions of Russia’s war in Ukraine along with the “three C’s” of food insecurity: COVID-19, conflict, and climate. Here I’m focusing on that last one, with a look at how food systems transformation and climate action are — and are not — working together.
Catch up: The Global Agricultural and Food Security Program will make climate change central focus (Pro)
Linking up
“As we go forward and really bring the food system to bear with climate change, we need to avoid silos between mitigation and adaptation in the food system.”
— Cynthia Rosenzweig, winner, 2022 World Food PrizeRosenzweig’s win of the “food security Nobel” highlights the increasing recognition of climate action and how it must be intertwined with the transformation of food systems if either effort is to succeed. The International Food Policy Research Institute’s “2022 Global Food Policy Report” found that food systems are “inseparably linked” to the climate change crisis, which is transforming — through adaptation and mitigation — the way the world grows, transports, and eats its food.
One possible solution that could help with the climate crisis, while also addressing food insecurity spurred by the war in Ukraine? Crop diversification. Ukraine and Russia together export more than a quarter of the world’s wheat. And wheat, rice, and maize make up two-thirds of human caloric intake, despite over 50,000 edible plants being grown around the world.
Seaweed’s the word
Is seaweed the fix we’ve all been looking for? Vincent Doumeizel and the Safe Seaweed Coalition think so.
“We have no capacity left. We have reached capacity. And there’s an ecological emergency, and we have to feed [hungry people],” Doumeizel told Devex. “The ocean can feed the world.”
In addition to increasing food supply, it’s possible to boost seaweed production while avoiding the overuse mistakes of traditional land agriculture, all while helping take carbon out of the atmosphere, according to the coalition, which advocates for concrete global policy and regulation of the seaweed production industry.
Dig in: Can seaweed fix the food system? This global coalition thinks so
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Short term, long term
50%
—That is the amount the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has promised to increase their annual payout by; to $9 billion from $6 billion. This includes exploring a bump in its annual spending to focus more deeply on the connection between food security and climate change adaptation, the foundation’s CEO Mark Suzman recently told Devex. The foundation is considering how to do more in the short term around the food security crisis but also eyeing ways to more smartly link the response to longer-term climate adaptation issues, Suzman said.
Earlier this year, the Gates Foundation awarded an additional $11 million to support a Food and Agriculture Organization’s program in sub-Saharan Africa, citing the need to invest in African agriculture amid a spike in global food prices and “the sharp escalation of climate threats.”
But according to a recent report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, philanthropists could pour much more money into addressing climate change. Just 22% of 188 foundations and 120 nonprofits that participated in a survey said they explicitly funded efforts to address climate change, CEP found.
Report: Despite climate alarm, philanthropic dollars are slow to come
Follow the money
My colleague Miguel Antonio Tamonan keeps our Pro members on top of where the money in global development is flowing, and he’s been watching the trends in food aid, given the crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He examines the donor landscape, the current need, and the gap between the two.
Meanwhile, organizations have been exploring ways to get more financing, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development recently unlocked one innovative way to do so — by entering the capital markets.
Hunger and the food crisis: What does the data tell us? (Pro)
More reading for Devex Pro members:
• Kenyan innovators turn to smart farming as food crisis worsens
• Can true cost accounting lead to sustainable food systems?
• FAO science boss says organic farming increases productivity long term
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Stephanie Beasley contributed to this deep dive.
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About the author
Teresa Welshtmawelsh
Teresa Welsh is a Senior Reporter at Devex. She has reported from more than 10 countries and is currently based in Washington, D.C. Her coverage focuses on Latin America; U.S. foreign assistance policy; fragile states; food systems and nutrition; and refugees and migration. Prior to joining Devex, Teresa worked at McClatchy's Washington Bureau and covered foreign affairs for U.S. News and World Report. She was a reporter in Colombia, where she previously lived teaching English. Teresa earned bachelor of arts degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of Wisconsin.
