Climate change, food security and the right to adequate food

Climate change threatens to make the already difficult situation of food security in the world even worse. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - based on the evaluation of many scientific studies - has made a critical assessment of the possible impacts of climate change on agriculture, livestock and fishing, particularly in the countries of the tropics and sub-tropics. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) also warns about the negative consequences, in particular for smallholder subsistence farmers in what are in any case marginalized regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In view of the threat of more famine, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations has also started to examine the question of the responsibility of the international community of states in terms of human rights when it comes to dealing with the need to adapt to climate change. In particular, there is a need to provide support for vulnerable people in special need of protection, who are not able to cope with the consequences of climate change on their own.

The aim of this study is to document important facts about the relationship between climate change and food security, evaluate these facts systematically and incorporate them in policy recommendations for the national and international level, focussing on the development of policies to adapt to climate change.