Global climate change linked to increasing world hunger.

• Author: Montanari, Shaena
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE - Brief Article

Global warming is likely to reduce food production in developing countries by altering weather patterns and leading to more significant droughts and desertification of farmland, according to a recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report. By 2080, the report projects, African farmland area with a growing season of under 120 days, already 1.1 billion hectares, could expand by up to 8 percent. The heaviest impact will probably be felt in the developing nations of sub-Saharan Africa, which have limited resources to adapt to a changing climate or increase food imports. The developing world in general could lose as much as 11 percent of its rainfed (as opposed to irrigated) farmland, with severe effects on cereal production.

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Food security could be more threatened by droughts and other extreme weather events than by gradual shifts in average temperatures and precipitation. The FAO report notes that particular populations, such as...