A/70/287 II. Impact of climate change on the right to food 6. In its general comment No. 12 (1999), the Committee on Economic, Soc ial and Cultural Rights defined the necessary elements required for the right to food (i.e. the possibility either to feed oneself directly from productive land or other natural resources or to purchase food) as availability, accessibility and adequacy. Availability 7. Availability relates to the presence of sufficient food from natural resources or for sale on the market to meet the needs of the population. With rising temperatures and increased frequency of extreme weather events, the negative impact of climate change on crop, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture productivity on food availability will have significant global reach. Although tolerance of different crops to changes in temperature and water availability may vary considerably, climate change is expected to have mostly negative implications for crop yields and will “more likely than not” depress them by more than 5 per cent beyond 2050. 3 8. Water scarcity and more frequent droughts are also expected in arid regions. If urgent additional climate change mitigation efforts are not initiated, heavy rainf all and resulting flooding could destroy entire crops as well as food stores and may affect agricultural land due to sedimentation. More frequent and intense extreme weather events will also complicate the logistics of food distribution during emergencies. In the short term, climate change is set to increase natural hazards, with more significant risks leading to environmental degradation over time. 9. An increase of just 1°C in temperature can have devastating impacts on crop yields and the ability to maintain current levels of agricultural production. Currently, negotiations within the United Nations Framework Conve ntion on Climate Change are limiting projections to an increase of 2°C. However, this is not adequate, given that in some regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, summer temperatures are projected to reach 5°C above the baseline temperature by 2100. 4 10. Acceleration in glacial melt is also expected to raise sea levels by up to 2 m by 2100, 5 affecting food availability in the coastal areas and river deltas that are home to 60 per cent of the world’s population. Inundation of coastal agricultural lands, especially where there is little capacity to build sea defences, will lead to increased groundwater salinization, thereby affecting the quantity and quality of water available for agricultural production. 6 As a result, significant climate-induced migration is expected to force people to move inland and to more food -secure places. __________________ 3 4 5 6 4/25 Ibid. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, 4°: Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (Washington, D.C., International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2013). United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2014: Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience (New York, 2014). P. Krishna Krishnamurthy, Kirsty Lewis and Richard J. Choularton, “Climate impacts on food security and nutrition: a review of existing knowledge”, WFP and Met Office Hadley Centre, 2012. Available from http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ communications/wfp258981.pdf. 15-10041