The impact of climate and societal change on food and nutrition security: A case study of Malawi

This study finds that food supply quality (in terms of micronutrient provision) may be more problematic than food supply quantity (in terms of dietary energy provision) over the coming decades in Malawi. These findings highlight the importance of moving beyond the focus on dietary energy supply as a measure of food security since nutrient adequacy of diets may be a more pressing issue in the future than simply the quantity of food and supply of energy. AbstractSociety is currently facing an unprecedented challenge in terms of achieving food and nutrition security for a rapidly expanding global population while also minimising and reversing damage to the natural environment. Compounding this issue is climate change, which adversely affects the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilisation and stability. This study aims to quantify the potential impact of future climate and societal change on food and nutrition security under a range of plausible scenarios. Malawi is used as a case study given it is one of the most food insecure countries in the world. Using the Food Estimation and Export for Diet and Malnutrition Evaluation modelling framework, the quantity and quality of the national food supply are assessed under a suite of future (2050) climate and socioeconomic scenarios. The results indicate that undernourishment prevalence could be reduced in Malawi under a best ‐case scenario; however, undernourishment is likely to increase assuming either a busines...

Source: Food and Energy Security - May 4, 2021 Category: Food Science Authors: Charlotte Hall, Jennie I. Macdiarmid, Pete Smith, Terrence P. Dawson Tags: ORIGINAL RESEARCH Source Type: research