Global food security, crucial for nourishing a population of over 8 billion, is now under threat due to three major challenges caused by the climate crisis.
The first threat involves the slow adaptation of agricultural products to the increasing temperatures caused by global warming. Therefore, it is imperative to accelerate scientific research and development efforts to enhance the resilience of agricultural products and production. Additionally, the loss of arable land and wetlands due to climate change is a serious concern for meeting the nutritional needs of the growing population. To combat this, international organizations and research institutions are exploring new production methodologies and innovative approaches to increase efficiency in agriculture and food production.
The global climate crisis presents a second threat in the form of fungal infestations that affect agricultural lands and numerous agricultural products. As global temperatures rise, so does the risk of fungus, which seriously threatens global agricultural production. Not only in developing countries, such as Africa, Asia and Latin America but also in countries such as Ireland and the United Kingdom, we see the fungal threat spreading rapidly on certain agricultural products and the agricultural lands where these products are produced. On the downside, global warming and the decrease in precipitation also cause the fungal threat to spread rapidly from country to country, from continent to continent, through extremely dry air and strong winds. As a matter of fact, international organizations and scientists that closely monitor global agricultural production point out that the global fungal threat spreads by 7 kilometers (over 4 miles) every year. It is troubling that the threat is growing in crops that are indispensable to the global diet, such as rice, wheat, soybeans and potatoes.
Studies conducted at the international level emphasize that grain rust disease, which was previously seen in tropical regions due to the fact that they are warmer regions, is now also seen in the U.K. and Ireland.
Another unpleasant element is that these fungal diseases are also starting to build up more resistance to pesticides aimed at stopping fungal diseases due to the risk of global warming. Increasing studies in the academic field underline that the world economy may face a serious threat of global hunger if an all-out struggle against the threat posed by global warming in global agricultural production is delayed.
Due to the threat of global warming in certain regions of the world, mushrooms are becoming more resilient. They not only have the ability to survive for 40 years in agricultural lands, but they also pose a risk of being spread to other lands or even continents through major hurricanes caused by the global climate crisis. These resistant fungi have already caused a loss of agricultural production ranging from 10% to 23% in some parts of the world.
The third major threat to global food security caused by the threat of the global climate crisis is drought and the threat to clean water resources. We are faced with a historical threat for the irrigation of arable lands, which need to be expanded to meet the nutritional needs of the world population of more than 8 billion, and for access to sufficient clean water for agricultural production, and also the threat of global drought and the shrinkage of wetlands.
The severe drought that has plagued Europe for the past two years has now reached a critical level that even agricultural powerhouses such as Italy and France are at risk of succumbing to it. To counteract this, it is crucial for countries worldwide to recover their losses in clean water resources, develop new sources of clean water (which currently only make up 3% of the world's water supply), prevent the evaporation of these resources and combat drought. In response to this pressing issue, the United Nations and other international organizations have stepped up their calls for a "total struggle."
