Severe crop losses are predicted in the next two decades due to climate change in some of the poorest regions of the world, including South Asia, which could turn into a hunger hotspot, a United States study has revealed.
The study revealed South Asia and Southern Africa as the two hunger hotspots where climate impacts on agriculture look particularly dire.
"We were surprised by how much and how soon these regions could suffer if we don't adapt," said study co-author Marshall Burke.
Potential losses in South Asia are projected 10 percent or more for many regional staples, including millet, maize and rice. "For poor farmers on the margin of survival, these losses could really be crushing," Burke said.
Those crop losses could lead to food shortages and a loss of livelihood among the world's poorest people, the authors warned.
The study by researchers at Stanford University's Programme on Food Security and the Environment focused on 12 regions where a large share of the world's malnourished populations reside, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, including much of Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The findings will be published in the February issue of the journal Science.
"The majority of the world's 1 billion poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods," said lead author David Lobell, a senior research scholar at FSE, which focuses on environmentally sustainable solutions to global hunger.
The study, reported by ScienceDaily on Friday, also pointed to a few developing regions, such as the temperate wheat-growing areas of China, that could benefit in the short run from climate change.
