Binaya Ghimire

Whether one is a small farmer or an environmental scientist, s/he has definitely experienced climate change. Various human-related activities such as urbanisation, food production and industrialisation contribute to the climate change. The production of food alone contributes to about 25 per cent of the global carbon emissions. Likewise, the variations of weather patterns and regular harsh weather conditions have also highly contributed to climate change, which has greatly affected the supply of food around the world.

Greenhouse effect
Deforestation affects the production of food negatively. When trees are not sufficient to absorb carbon dioxide, it leads to the greenhouse effect. Also, the pesticide and chemical fertilisers used in crop production kills insects and soil fertility. This happens because microbial organisms that makes the soil fertile have also been affected making it difficult for the plants to get nutrients.
The growing world population is expected to hit around 9.5 billion people by 2050. To act upon these anticipations, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is pushing for at least 60 per cent growth in food resources without having to increase the size of the farm land. It is not very clear how these intensifications are going to be materialised. However, other strategies such as organic farming are highly respected for the insect life and the soil ecology and may help towards restoration of soil fertility.
The whole idea about the production of food is under discussion, although, according to FAO, there are at least 821 million individuals facing hunger worldwide. It is estimated that the current food production can satisfy at least 14 billion people. Sadly, around a third of the world food production goes into waste because of the ineffective methods of supply, unequal distribution and unsustainable and unhealthy diets.
Therefore, experts in the department of food should not only put emphasis on the intensification of agriculture, but also on the strategies that will help change the consumption patterns and avoid wastage of food. There are three areas where the best changes should be adopted.
Food consumption should be made circular. This means that the organic waste, for example, food scraps should not be directed into the landfill. Instead, they should be changed into biogas and compost. Currently, the organic waste is what is recycled at a lower level. The Netherlands and Germany are faring better in recycling the organic waste. They have good technologies which have been invented to make the whole process easier.
For example, anaerobic digester has been invented particularly for the urban population. This is a machine that helps change the organic waste from commercial buildings or residential into biogas and compost which can help to fuel the growth of food in urban areas. Food waste needs to be treated in a right manner. They can be used as the animal fodder.
Urban farming is another highly effective method to help lower down the demand for more agricultural land for growing more food. Urban farming can not only feed the families that grow food but also helps them sell extra produce to make some money. When you start growing food in urban space, you will cut transportation cost as well as fossil fuel used for food transportation. This is aimed to enable the producers to be able to map and perfectly match the demands by consumers easily through engaging production in areas where food is only consumed.
A good number of researches have been conducted on the urban agriculture and how cities can support it. It can be approached through hydroponic systems. This helps to carry out cultivation from a vertical surface. It is a principle of city planning in order to take care of front/back yard, rooftops and other spaces for growing food. In urban areas, it is also possible to identify innovations which are designed to simplify the urban farming and make it sustainable. For example, the farmhouse is one modular housing system that utilises vertical stacking. This enables residents to easily grow food.
Changing dietary habit is another important option in this regard. The upsurge of people earning middle incomes is taking larger quantity of cheese, meat and eggs. In China, since 1990, consumption of beef and poultry has greatly increased. A lot of resources are used to raise animals, more people can be fed through these resources compared to farm animals. Therefore, encouraging people to eat less meat will help reduce pressure on the world's food system.

Collaborative efforts
Around cities, research institutions, governments and communities should come together and pool together food initiatives in order to assure people of healthier, more sustainable and cheaper choices, although this needs good political cooperation and coordination among various levels of government.
There are a lot of things people can do at the individual level to minimise the adverse effects of climate change. For example, people can start growing vegetables, even in the urban areas, manage their organic waste and eat less meat. In fact, there could be several approaches that make it highly efficient to use the existing resources around the cities. With the above changes, effective policies on food sovereignty and justice can help towards the establishment of fair food supply chains and efficient distribution of food around the world.

(Ghimire is a freelance writer based in Dang. vinaya.ghimire@gmail.com)