气候变化威胁粮食安全

~~‘Climate change a great risk to food security’

Staff Report  
June 12, 2015
 

 
ISLAMABAD: The Climate Change Ministry and World Food Programme (WFP) have agreed to work together to address climate risks to agriculture sector and issues of escalating food insecurity and malnutrition in the country.

“Boosting agriculture productivity cannot be achieved as long as the sector is not climate-resilient and able to sustain climate-induced disasters, such as floods, heavy rains, hailstorms and shifting weather patterns,” said WFP Country Director Lolo Castro during her meeting with Climate Change Minister Mushahidullah Khan on Thursday.

Castro informed the minister that rapidly changing weather patterns and erratic rains pose a serious threat to farmers’ ability to grow more crops, majority of whom have already abandoned farming and shifted to other sources of livelihoods, particularly cattle and poultry farming.

“There is pressed on need for the present government to play its role for improving farmers’ ability to produce food in today’s changing climate by enabling them to adapt to the shifting weather patterns,” she added.

Mushaidullah Khan told the WFP country director that the present government is fully acquainted with the impacts of climate change on country’s agriculture and water resources, which are being addressed on war-footing grounds through different policy measures. “Besides, new and climate-resilient crop varieties, which are flood, heat and heavy rain-tolerant are being introduced among farmers, that will help boost the lands of different crops and reduce their climate vulnerability,” the minister highlighted during the meeting.

The WFP country director showed willingness on behalf of her organisation that WFP is seriously interested to carry out Climate Risks and Food Security Analysis (CRFSA) study jointly with the climate change ministry.

“Though the study would basically aim to assess climate impacts on food security and livelihoods, the overarching objective of it is to quantitatively and qualitatively assess climate (including climate variability, change and extremes) impacts on food security and livelihoods,” she explained.

Castro told the minister that her organisation is also ready to support to the climate change ministry for conducting a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) exercise for achieving food security.

Mushahidullah Khan welcomed the generous offer and told her, “We would mull over matters that how my ministry can be of any support in conducting the CRFSA study in the country and how follow-up recommendations of the study benefit country’s agriculture sector, which is mainstay of the country’s economy and source of livelihood for millions of farming families.”

The federal minister noted that there was no one denying the fact that making the agriculture sector resilient to different impacts of climate change was inevitable, particularly at a time when groundwater resources were fast depleting due to incidences of floods, heat waves, torrential rains and hailstorms.

He observed that food security in Pakistan is highly sensitive to climate risks. “Recent climate-related events, such as the five consecutive floods from 2010 to 2014, persisting drought conditions in country’s south district of Tharparkar, delayed winter rains, recent rains and hailstorm in country’s north and eastern districts including Chakwal, are few examples of the potential impacts of climate on food production, access to markets and income from agricultural activities,” he added.

Climate Change Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan observed that the ways in which livelihoods and other vulnerabilities are linked to climate in the country have not been well studied.

However, it is hoped that the WFP’s proposed CRFSA study would be of great help, the secretary hoped.

He said that the majority of farmers in the country are small and marginal landowners, who are resource-poor.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/12-Jun-2015/climate-change-a-great-risk-to-food-security