Climate change 'could lead to more starving people'

Climate change could contribute towards prolonged world hunger, according to a new report. Oxfam has suggested that the world is ill prepared for the effects that climate change will have upon crops, resulting in many areas of the globe still struggling to grow food.

The report, entitled 'Hot and Hungry: How to stop climate change derailing the fight against hunger', explains how increasing global temperatures, altered patterns of rainfall and extreme weather have already started to affect crop growth throughout the world. Many areas have experienced threats to food production, including Brazil and California, which have both experienced drought, and the typhoon that affected the Philippines last year.

Scientists have already predicted that extreme weather patterns and the damage caused by strong storm surges will continue to impact the globe as temperatures around the world rose further. It is likely that similar events experienced throughout 2013 and recent years will continue, further disrupting food production and supplies.

The Oxfam study looked at ten key factors that could affect food production as climate change causes temperatures to increase. All of these areas, including public agricultural investment, adaptation finance and weather forecasting, were found to have serious gaps that could create barriers when it comes to adequate food production.

According to the study, grain reserves around the world are at incredibly low levels, falling below well below past figures. Farmers in poorer countries are also less likely to have crop insurance, meaning that they don't have a safety net if weather or temperatures affects their crops. It was found that only one per cent of farmers in countries like Malawi have taken out crop insurance, compared to 91 per cent of farmers within the US.

It concluded if weather patterns continue to get more extreme, by 2050 there could be around 25 million more children under the age of five across the globe suffering from malnourishment when compared to the the number that would exist at that time in a world that was not affected by climate change.