Oxfam report: Global hunger exacerbated by climate change

The impacts of climate change on global hunger are expected to hit harder and faster than previously thought, according to the anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

A new report from the Oxford-based group says that increased extreme weather events are in line with scientists’ predictions.

{mosads}“Climate change is the biggest threat to our chances of winning the fight against hunger,” Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement. “It could have grave consequences for what we all eat, but the world is woefully under-prepared for it.”

The report looks at various gaps, or “failing” policy areas that would hurt a country’s ability to feed itself in a warming world. The areas include quality of weather monitoring, agricultural research, and crop irrigation, among others.

Oxfam examined the drought in Brazil, which has devastated coffee harvests, spiking prices by 50 percent. The report also referred to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines’ fishing industry.

The analysis comes out as officials ares set to meet in Yokohama, Japan, on Tuesday to complete the second part of a report for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The fifth U.N. assessment on climate change, which is set to be released next week, is expected to say climate change will create substantial declines in global agricultural yields by roughly 2 percent each decade, while food demand increases 14 percent per decade.