In his 1970 lecture accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Norman Borlaug said, “If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace.”
That wisdom still rings true today as we mark World Food Day on Sunday, with the central theme of “No one left behind.” Over the past 50 years, we saw the impact of the revolution that Borlaug helped make possible — one that strives to leave no one behind to suffer from famine, hunger, or malnutrition.
All fell globally for decades, with undernourishment in developing countries dropping from more than 34 percent in 1970 to just under 13 percent in 2015.
But today these gains are at risk by a host of factors, including rising inflation and the brutal war in Ukraine.
And climate change is accelerating the impact of these crises in a way no one thought possible even a decade ago.
In recent months, we’ve seen a surge in the cost of basic food staples that reminds us of how interconnected the world has become; think of the recent historic droughts across South America leading to dramatic declines in soybean oil production, or the battles in Kyiv reducing Ukraine’s agricultural exports like sunflower oil.
The agriculture sector is not only vulnerable to a changing climate but is also a major contributor — with food production adding as much as a third of global greenhouse gases annually. Therefore, the sector also has an opportunity to lead change and fight climate disruption.
Today we already produce enough food to feed 1.5 times the population of the planet. Yet we have nearly 1 billion suffering from food insecurity, even as a third of food produced is wasted or lost.
Simply put, the way we have fed ourselves for generations is no longer possible under current conditions, and the need for transformative action has never been more urgent.
If more production isn’t the whole answer, we will have to innovate our way out of this challenge, which includes learning from historic practices dating back hundreds of years, as well as embracing new tools and technologies.
We can build a food system that prioritizes nutrition and sustainability, not a cycle of endless production and waste.
Instead of focusing only on yield, we can shift our mindset and shift our policies to focus on how much nutrition we can get from an acre of land or a square kilometer of the ocean — and do so in a manner adaptive to climate burdens.
And we can use our modern technology and tools not to deplete our lands and waters, but to give farmers and fishers new insights, enabling them to make more informed decisions about how a changing climate will impact their harvests.
Solutions do exist and we must look for answers that address multiple questions at once. We have an opportunity and an obligation to ensure global policymakers at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference — and at other international forums like the Convention on Biological Diversity — prioritize food and nutrition alongside emissions and mitigation.
We must move quickly to accelerate food production innovation and build resilience to climate shocks. We have no time — and no food — to waste.
There are some measures we can adopt immediately:
- Take an integrated approach that considers the importance of allowing growers and fishers to adapt to changing climate conditions while reducing their own emissions;
- Align policies and market incentives to address both farm productivity and nutritional priorities, while also considering the benefits like clean air and fresh water that come from healthy ecosystems;
- Increase research and development funding to expand adaptation options, from incremental farming practice changes to transformational crop switches, and;
- Prioritize local support for farmers and fishers adapting to climate change, including making adjustments to existing government subsidies and expanding technical assistance. Recent measures like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program made sizable investments in rural communities, showing a pathway towards making U.S. food production more climate resilient.
COP27 in Egypt is just around the corner. The focus this year has rightly shifted from planning to implementation — shining a spotlight on what global leaders can do to mobilize long-overdue action on adaptation and mitigation and the financing that is necessary to make it all happen.
Let’s use this moment as an opportunity to truly embrace implementation.
Together — thinking globally and acting hyper-locally — we can drive new solutions that increase nutritional yields, protect the livelihoods of farmers and ensure that no one is left behind.
Amanda Leland is the executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.