Washington, D.C. — A new brief issued by the Center for American Progress and Berlin-based think tank adelphi, calls for stronger and more systematic transatlantic cooperation between the United States and European Union member states to address the urgent and growing threat of food insecurity. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, extreme weather events have the potential to threaten the world’s food supply. This will require an ambitious and coordinated response from the international community, as food insecurity can contribute to political volatility.
“Climate change will have an effect on the world’s food supply in ways that cannot be ignored,” said Michael Werz, CAP Senior Fellow and coauthor of the brief. “In many places, those effects can already be seen in the instability that comes from prolonged drought, floods, and other extreme weather events. The international community, led by the United States and the European Union must be prepared to coordinate efforts to address this threat.”
To explore these issues, CAP and the World Wildlife Fund cohosted a food security exercise in November that simulated a food crisis in the next 10 to 15 years and gamed-out government and industry responses to the crisis. The new brief builds upon the analytical lessons learned in that exercise and makes recommendations, including:
- Collaborative data collection between the U.S. and the European Union to ensure a solid base of evidence and improved access to data. This will include integration of public and private sector data and go beyond food data into that of water and energy demand as they are also key contributors.
- Coordination of international assistance efforts to improve existing initiatives on global food security and ensure effectiveness and reduce learning curves.
- Balancing humanitarian and structural development assistance as the numbers of forcibly displaced inevitably rise due to food security and the instability that comes along with it.
- Improving the governance structure of global food security to improve that linkages to a fragmented food governance system.
Click here to read the paper.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.