Heat and water stress can lead to 6-14 per cent global food production decline by 2050, correspondingly increasing the number of people with severe food insecurity by up to 1.36 billion compared to 2020, researchers have established in new research. Due to this, regions like China and ASEAN countries can become food importers from being net food exporters by 2050.
The report Global impacts of heat and water stress on food production and severe food insecurity published June 22, 2024 in the journal Scientific Reports of the science weekly Nature , showed a decreasing trend of food production as a percentage reduction in 2050 from 2020 for different climate change scenarios. A decrease in agricultural output causes a reduction in global food production that, in turn, increases the number of people with severe food insecurity. In India, in the worst-case scenario of climate change, food production was projected to fall by 16.
1 per cent in 2050 as a result of both water and heat stress. In China, it would fall by 22.4 per cent and in the United States by 12.
6 per cent. In Africa, food production was projected to decline by 8.2-11.
8 per cent, 14.7 per cent for Australia and 19.4 per cent for some parts of Central America.
Globally, the number of additional people with severe food insecurity by 2050, relative to 2020, can increase between 556 million and 1.36 billion. Already, nearly 282 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 59 countries in 2023, with extreme.