Climate policy change crucial for the future

Globally and at EU level, we face the twin challenges of increasing food production to meet the demands of nine billion people in 2050, and keeping global temperature rises below 2 degrees centigrade over pre-industrial levels.

Climate change and food security are inextricably inter-linked and this was one of the key challenges EU leaders, including the Taoiseach, faced as they met in Brussels last week to consider the EU’s Climate and Energy Framework to 2030. For Ireland too this is a crucial issue, because of the importance of our agriculture sector, and was a key focus for the Taoiseach at the European Council.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 5th Assessment Report, said that responding to climate-related risks involves decision making in a changing world, with continuing uncertainty about the severity and timing of climate-change impacts. Climate-related impacts are already reducing crop yields in some parts of the world, and a major challenge for global agriculture is to be adaptable and build resilience into future policy. Globally, the poorest and least food-secure are the most negatively affected by climate change; in a world already shamed by the fact that there are more than 800 million hungry people, this adds even greater urgency to the task of addressing climate change effectively.