Climate Change Will Starve Poor

More than half a million people worldwide will die by 2050 because of the devastation of food-crop production by climate change.

The scarcity of fruit and vegetables will be the biggest killer.

A model developed at Oxford University and published in The Lancet projects that, by 2050, climate change will lead to a 3% per person reduction in global food availability, a 4% reduction in the consumption of fruit and vegetables, and a 1% reduction in the consumption of red meat.

Lead researcher Marco Springmann said climate change was expected to reduce the amount of food harvested, "which could lead to higher food prices and reduced consumption, and to an increase in malnourished people.

"The only possible solution is the adoption of climate stabilization pathways, which could reduce the number of deaths by up to 79%.  Without those strategies, however, the death of over half a million people is inevitable."

Already many South Africans face food insecurity, according to the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, and climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities.

The center's food security expert, Stephen Devereux, said:  "Food insecurity is not caused by a lack of food at national level, but by a lack of access to food at the individual level, mainly due to poverty.

"One response to food insecurity is social protection, which improves access to food for the poor, either by giving them food or by raising their income."

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