Global Warming Spikes As Food Waste Hits 33%
...Africa, Asia, Others to face severe consequences from food insecurity
A new report has said that global warming is spiked by daily waste including the one-third of all the food produced in the world that ends up as trash before it gets to the table.
According to the report titled “Climate Change and Land’ by the lntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the loss and waste of food accounted for between 8 and 10 percent of the emissions of the gases responsible for global warming in the period 2010-2016. The report also noted that food that goes to the landfill and rots, produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide.
The panel in the report foresees problems to arise in the future from climate change include lower yields, higher prices, a loss of nutritional value, and supply chain disruptions that have implications for food security. The effects will differ by country, but the report stated the consequences will be most dramatic in the low-income countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
The report coincides with the observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, themed, “Stop food loss and waste. For the people. For the planet”.
The initiative is geared to recognise not only the fundamental role that sustainable food production plays in promoting food security and nutrition in a world where the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly rising since 2014, but also how food waste contributes to climate change.
Reducing food loss land waste requires the attention and actions of all, from food producers to food supply chain stakeholders, to food industries, retailers, and consumers. Action taken in observance of this new International Day can contribute to achieving no less than three Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 2 – zero hunger; Goal 12 – sustainable consumption and production – and Goal 13 – climate action.
The urgent need to reduce food loss and waste was underlined by the findings of the latest UN report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, which states that nearly 690 million people are hungry, or 8.9% of the world population – up by 10 million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in five years.
Consumers can play a major role in addressing food waste as much of the food purchased by households is discarded because of a misunderstanding of date marking and improper storage of these household food items. The report notes that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has come up with 15 tips to help reduce food waste and make not wasting food a way of life.
In a past report from IPCC, Agriculture fed by rain could drop 50 percent in some African countries by 2020. It further predicts that wheat may disappear from Africa by 2080, and that maize—a staple—will fall significantly in southern Africa.
No continent will be struck as severely by the impacts of climate change as Africa. Given its geographical position, the continent will be particularly vulnerable due to the considerably limited adaptive capacity and exacerbated by widespread poverty. Climate change is a particular threat to continued economic growth and to livelihoods of vulnerable populations.
Meanwhile, another report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), notes that by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people on the African continent are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change. In the same year in some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent. Global warming of 2˚C would put over 50 percent of the continent’s population at risk of undernourishment.
Furthermore, projections estimate that climate change will lead to an equivalent of 2 percent to 4 per cent annual loss in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region by 2040. Assuming international efforts keep global warming below 2°C, the continent could face climate change adaptation costs of US$ 50 billion per year by 2050.
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