Climate Change in FCV Countries

CLIMATE CHANGE IN FCV COUNTRIES

Climate variability and change will continue to aggravate food insecurity in African FCV countries. A report by the FAO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa states that climate change affects African countries “in part because of the heavy reliance on climate-sensitive activities and in part because of the high levels of poverty and food insecurity that exist” (FAO and ECA 2018, 52). The majority of the population in Africa is already experiencing climate variability, which negatively affects food production systems and leads to increased food insecurity (FAO and ECA 2018). Climate change adversely influences crop yields (wheat in particular), fish stocks, and animal health, which reduces overall food supplies and increases food prices, hence inhibiting access to food. Smallholder farmers and poor households are particularly affected by these changes (FAO 2016).

Recurrent droughts and floods affect food security. Droughts reduce the availability of water for crop production and human and animal consumption. As weather patterns become more unpredictable and drought seasons last longer, undernourishment has increased. According to a 2019 report by multiple United Nations agencies (FAO et al. 2019), the number of undernourished people in drought-sensitive countries has increased by 45.6 percent since 2012. During the past decade, droughts have disrupted agricultural activity in several African FCV countries, including Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Zimbabwe (FAO and ECA 2018). Drought and conflict affected food availability and prices in South Sudan and Sudan, and climate shocks including droughts disrupted agricultural production and worsened food security in Djibouti, Mozambique, and Somalia (FAO and ECA 2018). Floods also negatively affect agricultural outputs, leading to food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa (Kotir 2011). For example, in 2020, widespread flooding affected the food security of 4 million people in East Africa (World Vision 2021).

Climate change is causing temperatures to rise and water resources to dwindle in African FCV countries, which hampers these countries’ food production systems. Figure 2.18 shows that temperatures have risen over the past two decades in Africa’s FCV countries. These increases have been higher than half a degree Celsius in 18 of the 20 African FCV countries. Evidence suggests that rising temperatures threaten wheat and maize production, lower forest productivity, increase fire risks, negatively affect fisheries, and cause imbalances in fragile ecosystems, changing pest and crop disease patterns (FAO and ECA 2018). Consequently, renewable freshwater resources declined in all the African FCV countries from 2002 to 2017. These declines were most dramatic in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, where each country’s per capita renewable freshwater resources declined by more than 23,000 cubic meters (figure 2.19). The depletion of renewable freshwater resources affects food production capabilities, particularly in countries where freshwater withdrawals for agricultural purposes are significant. Climate change is projected