Multidimensional food security nexus in drylands under the slow onset effects of climate change

Stavi, Ilan (author), Paschalidou, Anastasia (author), Kyriazopoulos, Apostolos P. (author), Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, Rares (author), Siad, Si Mokrane (author), Suska-Malawska, Malgorzata (author), Savić, Dragiša (author), Roque de Pinho, Joana (author), Thalheimer, Lisa (author), Williams, David Samuel (author), Hashimshony-Yaffe, Nurit (author), van der Geest, Kees (author), Cordovil, Claudia M. d. S. (author), Ficko, Andrej (author)

Hyperarid, arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas cover approximately 41% of the global land area. The human population in drylands, currently estimated at 2.7 billion, faces limited access to sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food. We discuss the interlinkages among water security, environmental security, energy security, economic security, health security, and food security governance, and how they affect food security in drylands. Reliable and adequate water supply, and the prevention of water contamination, increase the potential for ample food, fodder, and fiber production. Protecting woodlands and rangelands increases food security by buffering the slow onset effects of climate change, including biodiversity loss, desertification, salinization, and land degradation. The protection of natural lands is expected to decrease environmental contamination, and simultaneously, reduce the transfer of diseases from wildlife to humans. Biofuel production and hydroelectric power plants increase energy security but generate land-use conflicts, deforestation, and ecosystem degradation. Economic security generally positively correlates with food security. However, economic growth often degrades the environment, changes tenure rights over natural resources, and stimulates migration to urban areas, resulting in lower food and health security. Moreover, civil unrest, political instability, and armed conflicts disrupt local economies in drylands. Maintaining food security is crucial for health security; conversely, malnourished populations and unresponsive health systems decrease economic security, and adversely affect environmental, energy, and food security. Climate change is expected to deteriorate health security by spreading vector-borne diseases. Effective governance and timely interventions can substantially shorten periods of food insecurity, lower their intensities, and accelerate recovery from inevitable crises, and are therefore crucial in preventing humanitarian crises. Since global drylands population will nearly double by 2050, and since drylands are among the most susceptible areas to climate change, integrated multi-hazard approaches to food security are needed.

• Language: English
• Keywords: climatic change, land-use, land-use management, loss and damage, natural factors, anthropogenic factors, population growth, slow onset events, urbanization
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 10, iss. 12, art. 1350
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-135610
• UDC: 630*
• ISSN on article: 2073-445X
• DOI: 10.3390/land10121350
• COBISS.SI-ID: 101822211
• Publication date in RUL: 22.03.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Land
• Shortened title: Land
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2073-445X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523256345

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 07.12.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: podnebne spremembe, raba tal, upravljanje zemljišč, izguba in škoda, naravni dejavniki, antropogeni dejavniki, rast prebivalstva, urbanizacija