The warming of Earth’s climate threatens to increase global food insecurity and halt more than two decades of progress toward curbing global hunger, according to a major assessment by 31 researchers.
Worldwide, climate change is likely to destabilize cropping systems, interrupt transportation networks and trigger food shortages and price hikes, says the report, unveiled last week by U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack at the UN’s COP-21 climate conference in Paris.
While the pace of these changes depends on a multitude of factors, their effects will become more pronounced by mid-century, the researchers found. Under the least optimistic scenario—based on high carbon emissions and low international cooperation—agricultural yields could go down by as much as 15 percent and food prices could rise more than 30 percent by 2050.