Miller Magazine Issue: 152 August 2022

59 COVER STORY MILLER / AUGUST 2022 Climate change poses a major threat to the ambitious global commitments to ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Climate change is projected to cause significant regional shifts in agricultural produc- tion, potentially reduce productivity, and increase the volatility of crop production. Reducing malnutrition and hunger in this context will require a concerted effort to help producers adapt to adverse climate outcomes, adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, and mitigate the substantial contribution of agriculture to climate change. Climate change is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. It is a growing threat to our food systems, with impacts becoming increasingly evident. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events, among oth- er effects, are already reducing agricultural yields and disrupting food supply chains. By 2050, climate change is expected to put millions of people at risk of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Global food production needs to be doubled by 50% by the middle of the 21st century to ensure the food and nutritional se- curity for 9 billion people explicitly in challenging scenarios such as land degradation, water scarcity and environmental pollution. Climate change is evident worldwide due to the exponential rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. It leads to more complexity in achieving sustainable food security. Higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, sea lev- el rise, and growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, extreme heat, and cyclones are already reducing agricultural productivity, disrupting food supply chains, and displacing communities. At the same time, food systems are estimated to contribute more than a third of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions responsible for cli- mate change, placing food production at the center of attention as both a contributor to global warming and a critical sector for mounting an adaptive response to climate change. IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON GRAIN SUPPLY