ABSTRACT
The subject of food and nutrition is an important dimension of an individual’s and population’s health and well-being. Climate change has complex interactions with food systems, leading to food insecurity through its impact on food availability, accessibility, utilisation and stability. Increased variability in climate is considered to be one of the highest challenges to food security, particularly through its effects on the livelihoods of low-income individuals and communities. Population growth, amassed urbanisation and climate change are affecting the national, regional and local food, diets and agriculture systems significantly. In many low- and middle-income countries, these shifts are already contributing to the “double burden” of increase in overweight cases (including obesity and its associated Non-Communicable Diseases) and undernutrition cases, indicating the influence of food systems on health systems. A collective commitment is required for a change to occur in the global food systems, for a meaningful contribution towards sustainable human development, especially taking into account pesticide exposure, antibiotic resistance and hormones, factory farm pollutants and the nutrient content of crops affected by climate change. Future food security for all will ultimately depend on the management of the interacting trajectories of socioeconomic and environmental changes.
