Increasingly Frequent Extreme Weather May Trigger Food Crises in Developing Countries

According to a November 26 report by “CNA”, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on the 26th that drought, floods and other extreme weather have become increasingly frequent and severe over the past 30 years, and will raise the threat to food security in developing countries.

The FAO pointed out in its report that from 2003 to 2013, global losses caused by natural disasters reached as high as 1.5 trillion US dollars, not only exceeding Australia's GDP for an entire year, but also dealing a heavy blow to agriculture.

The FAO pointed out that “these crop losses are equivalent to 333 million metric tons of cereals, pulses, meat, milk and other commodities”. Each time a disaster occurs, the average calorie intake available to people in developing countries decreases by 7%.

Asia suffered the largest direct losses in agricultural and livestock products, valued at as much as 48 billion US dollars, but accounting for only 2% of total agricultural and livestock output. In Africa, most of the damage was to other related categories, valued at 14 billion US dollars, but accounting for 6% of overall output.

The FAO said that compared with the 1980s, natural disasters have nearly tripled, creating a considerable obstacle to efforts to combat hunger and poverty.

Next week, the UN climate conference will be held in Paris, where nearly 200 countries will try to reach consensus on regulations to limit climate change.

Before that, the FAO called for increased investment in disaster response, post-disaster recovery and adaptation to climate change, so as to make the agricultural sector better able to respond to environmental changes.

Scientists say that the rise in global temperatures caused by human greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more extreme weather events than before.