12 Small Acts to Save Our World by Wwf

Author:Wwf
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2018-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

Food and climate change

Whether it is fish and chips, a chicken curry or a morning cup of coffee, some of our favourite foods and drinks are threatened by climate change.

The ingredients for dishes like chicken tikka masala come from around the world, and many production regions might be impacted by global warming. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns can have dramatic effects on yields, and increase the likelihood and frequency of pest outbreaks. Increased extreme conditions, such as longer and tougher drought periods, can also render some areas unsuitable for further production of a particular crop – something that impacts the lives of the people whose livelihoods are tied to them.

Higher temperatures could hit chicken welfare and growth, and in South America harvests of the soy that feed the chickens are likely to be affected by rising temperatures and changes to rainfall patterns. The same problem is set to hit rice harvests in India, while warmer conditions could damage vegetables such as onions and hit tomato yields.

Fish and chips has been a national favourite for the British since it emerged in the early 1860s, sold by chippies that served it up in old newspapers to keep prices low. It’s such an institution that during the First World War the government refused to ration the dish, and made sure it was available to keep people fed, and boost morale. But warmer, more acidic oceans could disrupt how the standard ingredient – cod – reproduces, and push this species further north to cooler waters, while fish such as anchovies and sea bass swim in to take their place. Thirsty potato crops could also struggle in places where conditions get drier.

In Ghana, a major cocoa-producing country that supplies some of the world’s most famous chocolate brands, farmers are already having to find ways of dealing with the impacts of climate change. They are growing new, more resilient cocoa plants which can withstand longer or more unpredictable dry seasons, and planting shade trees to protect the cocoa from rising temperatures.

It’s a similar story in Sumatra, Indonesia, which is known for its quality coffee. Farmers in the island’s northern Gayo Highlands have reported harvests falling by up to 50 per cent in the face of unexpected rain or prolonged dry spells, which they put down to climate change. Unseasonal rain hits efforts to sun-dry the coffee beans, while warmer temperatures mean pests previously only seen at lower altitudes are on the march.

Farmers are taking steps locally to tackle the problem, distributing new, more resilient varieties of coffee plant, planting shade trees in the coffee gardens to protect their plants, and building canopies to protect drying coffee from the rain. But they warn that international efforts are needed to save the region’s coffee industry – and others like them around the world – from climate change.

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