COP 20 Peru: The new food map
The impact of climatic instability and the magnitude of its variability are mutating the maps of the crops and the production of the food industry. The increase in the global temperature and its consequent alteration of the rainfall regime have been in charge of displacing and modifying territories where previously certain products were cultivated, having to replace them with others that until a time ago it was unthinkable that they germinated in those lands.
This observation was the main concern of the food safety experts present at the 20 Conference of the Parties (COP 20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Lima between the 1 and the 12. December.
The most affected by these radical changes in climate and its effect on crops are the tropical countries, which can cause significant rises in food prices if these countries do not adopt adaptation techniques soon.
The International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI, calculates that these food price increases from tropical countries can reach up to 30% on the values observed today.
It is clearly the agricultural sector that is directly affected by climate change, warned Andy Jarvis, a researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and a specialist in low-carbon agriculture, of the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
"Climate and agriculture go hand in hand and it is the climate that defines whether a crop is going well or badly. The geography of where the crops are going to move and the impacts can be extremely negative if nothing is done"Jarvis said during the Global Landscapes Forum, the largest parallel event held at the COP 20.
An example. In the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru, an area that harbors the greatest diversity of potatoes, high temperatures and the incidence of pests are forcing the Indians to cultivate the tuber at very high altitudes. Potato producers could face a reduction in rainfall from 15 to 30 percent for 2030, according to Climate Wire.
"The COP has managed to keep global warming within a ceiling of two degrees Celsius as the most optimistic goal", Remembered Jarvis to Tierramérica.
In other countries, very aggressive pests have already been declared from fungi that have developed and multiplied by rain disturbances, causing damages of several billions of dollars.
This region of Latin America is already beginning to mutate its crops and with this the food map begins to undergo surprising changes, bringing on the one hand the inevitable increase in food, and also many opportunities for other lands that begin to grow products that before They were impossible to cultivate.
In the immediate future this reality will also be extended to the other countries south of the continent since climate change is irreversible and the shortage of rainfall is already a trend. As the climate warms, the crops that until now have their peak of altitude of 1.600 meters, must climb higher levels.
The deputy director general for forestry of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), Eduardo Rojas, assured at COP 20 that climate change already puts at risk food security, resources and means of life of the most vulnerable people.
"A resilient agriculture is more environmental because they do not use nitrogen fertilizers. But no matter how much we do, there are systemic limits. We can reach the limit of what can be the adaptation of agriculture"He commented.
Rojas insisted on a comprehensive approach to landscapes in the context of climate change to face the challenge of ensuring adequate nutrition for the 805 millions of people suffering from chronic malnutrition. However, agricultural production will have to increase at 60% to guarantee demand.
Source: Ecoportal.net
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