Climate Change Impact on Food Sovereignty in Bangladesh

Abstract: Climate change will have a massive impact on food production and may jeopardize food security in many regions. Food Security is an integrated part of Food Sovereignty. Climate change will also influence the availability of water for human consumption and for food production. All the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) impact assessments recognized Bangladesh as one of the most susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change. Given the contribution of agriculture to the livelihoods of general people of the country and its dependence on climate regime, any significant change in climate regime can have far reaching impacts on the overall socio-economic system of Bangladesh. It is important to devise viable strategies and pro-poor policy approaches by integrating climate change, Food Sovereignty & Agriculture for reducing climate change vulnerability. In general, food sovereignty critically requires promotion of food availability (e.g. agricultural diversification of agriculture production and food processing and storage infrastructure, pro-poor market mechanism, continual food access (income diversity, prices, employment creation, control of assets and resources), and reducing risk (improve coping mechanism, better risk management, adequate disaster shelters, household and community focused flood-proofed facilities development). Hence, risk-reduction focused strategies are needed to reduce the climate change threat on food sovereignty. Information about climate change is vital for both individuals and institutions because better information systems can greatly assist decision-making at all levels. People-centered Information Management & Surveillance System (PIMS) to monitor the climate-change induced vulnerability on Food Sovereignty and Agriculture could be a viable option to identify the early warning of the climate change induced vulnerability on food sovereignty. Climate change, Food Sovereignty and Agriculture encompass multidimensional policy issues of human well-being, environmental management and good governance. Consequently, any strategy to address food sovereignty & sustainable agriculture integrating climate change should consider livelihood as an integral component. Ecosystem approach to Agriculture and Food sovereignty is needed to include in the national policies and action plans to reduce climate change vulnerability over food sovereignty.

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