“Rich countries need to consume and produce less animal-source foods”

The global food system is both a victim of and a contributor to the climate emergency. Our food practices, from production to consumption to distribution, generate up to 37 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, one-third of our food production is at risk due to climate-related events. This climate-risked food system leads to hunger, malnutrition and ultimately to chronic poverty, ending which are key development goals that the world is trying to achieve by 2030. Yet, discussions on the food system — whether about its contribution to the climate emergency or its vulnerability to it—mostly take place outside of the climate negotiations.

This is expected to change at the 28th iteration of the UN climate conference (COP28) that convenes in Dubai on November 30. For the first time, there will be significant attention on food, agriculture and water at a climate conference, with a day dedicated to the topic of food system.

Richard Mahapatra speaks to Lawrence Haddad, World Food Prize winner and executive director of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a Swiss-based foundation, on the impact of climate change on food systems and how to achieve nutrition security in a climate-risked world. Edited excerpts:

Richard Mahapatra: People around the world are facing unprecedented levels of hunger. Even those who have access to food are not eating healthy, leading to wider prevalence of malnutrition—particularly undernourishment. The climate crisis is worsening the situation, as it disproportionately impacts the poorest. Can you elaborate on the recent surge in food unavailability and unaffordability in the context of climate crisis?

Lawrence Haddad: Farming has always been an unpredictable business due to the vagaries of weather, but the climate crisis is making it harder for farmers to grow food. Climate change is making weather more unpredictable and extreme. As a result, agricultural production suffers. Perishable foods such as vegetables, fruits, dairy, fish and chicken, which tend to be more nutritious, are particularly vulnerable to weather extremes because they require prompt transportation and storage that rely on infrastructure such as roads that are not flooded and electricity supply that is not interrupted by high winds.

RM: In recent years, the food system has been under scrutiny for its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. How do you view this link? The food system caters to our basic survival needs, but there is a wide gap between meeting those needs and overconsumption. This results in large disparities in food system-related emissions among countries, which is similar to global inequalities in carbon emissions. How to broker a solution to this challenge?

LH: There is already a clamour for reducing production and consumption of animal-source foods in high-income countries. Their populations consume high levels of animal-source foods and can certainly consume less of these foods for their own health. Reducing the consumption will also help reduce emissions, but not as much as we think because their systems are very efficient (emissions per unit of food produced is low).
In low- and middle-income countries where the consumption of animal-source foods is low, there is a case for some groups such as young children, adolescent girls and young women to increase the consumption of such foods as these are good sources of vitamins and minerals essential for growth and development of the body.

In these contexts, the key is to make animal-source food production more efficient. In a less-efficient production system, many animals die prematurely and lead to emissions that do not contribute to good human nutrition. Besides, the production of animal-source foods is important for the livelihoods of low-income communities and those living in rural areas.

So, different countries need to make different adjustments according to their levels of consumption and production of animal-source foods: high-income countries need to consume and produce less while low-income countries need to produce more efficiently.

RM: In recent years, many countries, particularly wealthy economies, have initiated or announced programmes to reduce emissions from food systems, especially in the agricultural sector. However, these programmes are facing protests. What is the best way to introduce and implement these reforms?

LH: These changes may seem obvious to many people. But they are often painful for those—the farmers—who have to implement the changes. Farmers need access to technology and financing to reduce emissions per unit of animal-source foods. And if they need to reduce animal-source food production altogether, they need transition payments while they develop new product lines.

RM: A “healthy” diet is desirable. It is a human right. It is also said to be ecological and climate-friendly. But a healthy diet is simply not affordable for nearly one-third of the world’s population. Moreover, climate crisis has severely disrupted agriculture, leading to rising prices. What, then, are the possible pathways to achieve this?

LH: The pathways to healthy diet are fourfold. First, incomes have to rise. In the medium-run, this relies on improved education opportunities and in the short-run on social safety nets which transfer incomes and food to those on low income.

Second, the price of healthy foods has to drop for all. This can be achieved by shortening value chains and reducing the number of intermediaries between the farm and the market. This will reduce the number of agents taking fees for services that are usually not essential or could be done cheaply by better mechanisms (for example, market facilitators who aggregate small production amounts for markets). It will also reduce food loss. Reducing food loss means more of the food that is produced is consumed. This also helps drive down prices.

Third, we have to support small and medium enterprises (smes) that the poor rely on—these smes need access to technologies, business development services and finance. Supporting them not only helps the supply of healthy foods but also drives down prices for consumers.
Fourth, we have to make the healthy foods safer, more delicious and more desirable. This means better testing, better public health campaigns and better food presentation. Even if a household has access to affordable healthy foods, several other factors can be barriers to their access, and the above strategies can help overcome those barriers.

RM: Nutrition security is already a sticky development challenge. Climate crisis is precipitating this further. How can we bridge this nagging development deficit in a climate-challenged time? As you often say, we need to integrate climate and nutrition issues. But how?

LH: Nutrition security depends on good access to nutritious foods, good access to clean water and sanitation, good access to preventative health care and enough time for parents to take care of their young. The bad news is that each of these is threatened by the climate crisis. The good news is that there are plenty of opportunities for climate and nutrition to be integrated, freeing up more resources for both. As one of our assessments shows, very few countries include nutrition considerations in their Nationally Determined Contributions (ndcs, national climate action plans) for emissions reduction or National Adaptation Plans (naps, national plan for climate adaptation). [The assessments were published in the report “Accelerating Action and Opening Opportunities: A Closer Integration of Climate and Nutrition”, in 2023 by gain, and suggests ways to “build in climate considerations to government food procurement, to food-based dietary guidelines or to global nutrition commitments.”]

Also, few National Nutrition Plans seriously consider climate. Hardly any funding for climate from overseas development assistance (general or the Green Climate Fund) includes food or nutrition components. For example, including more efforts to reduce food loss is good for both nutrition (perishable foods tend to be high in nutrients) and climate (reducing emissions generated for little benefit to nutrition). Similarly, reducing consumption of animal-source foods among those who eat high levels of them is helpful for emissions (and health). Making animal-source food production more efficient (especially in low-income contexts, where the potential is highest) will also help reduce emissions.

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