Climate Change, Food Security and Land-use Management by Thought For Food
Climate change, land-use management and food security are intertwined as one is influenced by the other.
Climate change will likely diminish continued progress on global food security through production disruptions that lead to local availability limitations, price increases, interrupted transport conducts, and diminished food safety, among other causes. Over time, Climate change has been affecting food availability, access, utilization, and stability, not leaving out food production, transportation, and storage.
Land-use change is related to climate change as it influences the flux of mass and energy, and as land-cover patterns change, these fluxes are altered. As human activities continue to impact climate change, in the same way, population growth drives agricultural expansion due to the high demand for food. Still, it cannot meet these population demands due to lower agricultural yields.
Revamp Rave Network held the third class of the Second Virtual Cohort Programme on Climate Change on the 21st of May 2022. The topic “Climate change, Food Security and Land-use Management was taught by Silvi Rodriguez — Agri-food Expert and Regenerative Agriculturist, Thought For Food and Albert Kure — Agri-tech Expert and Regional Coordinator For West Africa, Thought For Food.
Silvi Rodriguez says Regenerative Agriculture is the process of restoring and healing the lands through rehabilitating through farming. This approach will help save the future of food systems for the next generation and make our land arable through traditional practices embedded in the regenerative agricultural process.
She described Regenerative Agriculture as a set of practices that are variously based on protocols like the use of cover crops, use of lighter tools, planting winter crops, Mob grazing, the integration of livestock and reducing or eliminating tillage,. It is also a set of outcomes from measurable and proven models to improve soil health, to sequester carbon and to increase biodiversity. It is also a process that describes farming and grazing practices, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity resulting in both carbon drawdown and water cycle improvement.
Regenerative Agriculture demands a holistic approach to natural resource usage. Its evolution began with indigenous peoples and farmers/peasants using traditional knowledge for conservation and commercial agriculture.
The six ways indigenous people are helping the world achieve #ZeroHunger are Traditional agriculture practices which are resilient to climate change, Conserving and restoring forests and natural resources, and Indigenous foods expanding and diversifying diets. It is no news that Indigenous foods are resilient to climate change. Aside from this, indigenous territories hold 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, while Indigenous people’s lifestyles are locally adapted and respectful of natural resources.
Regenerative Agriculture does not only help preserve traditional practice but also helps put back carbon into the soil.
She concluded by talking about Refi Economy,, which is an Economy incentivizing land regeneration and has organisations like Klima DAO, Regen Network and PopCorn which are generating carbon assets through an Interchain economy unlocking web3 regenerative finance which can give back to farmers and add additional income for farmers.
Agriculture is the science, art or practice of cultivating the soil, producing/growing crops or raising livestock, and in varying degrees, the preparation and marketing of the resulting products. Land use Management is a process of managing the use and development of land resources that are useful for a variety of purposes which may include organic agriculture, reforestation, water resource management and eco-tourism projects.
Albert said the priority areas for action for a long-term perspective and orientations should include the Territorial Development Strategy for income job creation, Sustainable and natural resources management and climate actions, Sustainable transformation of African Agriculture and Development of the African food industry and food markets.
He stated that by 2050 climatic impacts on food security will be unmistakable. There are likely to be one billion people on the planet and most of them will live in cities and demand for food will increase significantly. We will need major innovations in how we eat, farm and cope with climate changes by considering completely our different diets.
In Nigeria, almost 40% of the food supply is wasted while about 50% of the population is food insecure. Ranked 97th out of 113rd in the global Food insecurity index, Nigeria’s climate mitigation and adaptation measures involve Individual approach (Personal Footprint), Group consideration (household, businesses) and Community or Social perspective (programmes and policy at the local, state and national levels).
He concluded by saying climate effects on food security and land-use is not just a local problem but a global problem and we should measure the impact we are making as individuals.
