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African voices on the global climate arena - COP27


Global climate change influences freshwater availability and demand in Africa. This short entry briefly summarises the African realities of food systems as described in a UNFCC report prepared for Conference of Parties (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with author list featuring prominent African experts.

      COP 27 sign; Source: Scientific American

Cry me a river - would water solve all problems?

The report critiques the preoccupation with food production, as has also been my own focus in this blog, and calls for close consideration of other aspects of food security such as storage, processing, distribution and consumption. Rapid population growth and increasing urbanisation across the continent will also have collateral impacts on water in food systems and hence food security. The previous entry already outlines the nexus of climate change, water, and food production, largely citing this report. 


What do Africans think they need in this predicament in terms of ‘adaptive capacity’? Solving the water-access-for-food-production problem will no longer suffice under climate change. It is extreme climate events which are the chief drivers of increasing acute food insecurity and malnutrition of millions. Between 2015 and 2019, an estimated 45.1 million people in the Horn of Africa and 62 million people in eastern and southern Africa required humanitarian assistance due to climate-related food emergencies.  The focus on food production also omits the significance and vulnerability of wild-harvested foods which simply rely on uncultivated ecosystem dynamics functioning uninterrupted. Non-timber forest products are consumed by an estimated 43% of all households in Burkina Faso and wild vegetables accounted for about 50% of total vegetable consumption in south-eastern Burkina Faso. Those non-cultivated species, while a source of food, will not have the benefit of farmland irrigation schemes. Communities in the Kalahari and Zimbabwe also report scarcity of wild foods due to drought.

Availability and price of seeds, lack of knowledge and training, and even inadequate labelling of seed supplies - a host of non-climatic factors, prevent effective adoption of resilient agricultural practices, such as diversifying crop varieties to more drought-tolerant ones. Looking to non-agricultural work for additional income can help household finances seasonally but often proves maladaptive at large and long term. For example, some take up charcoal production, increasing deforestation and carbon emissions. Whether off-farm activities constitute maladaptation depends on whether resources are available to upgrade skills or support investments that make a new business more lucrative. Without such resources, this option may lead to impoverishment. It is clear, therefore, that water access alone, while essential to food production, cannot ensure food security. 

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