Global hunger and climate change adaptation through international trade

• Published in: Nature climate change Vol. 10; no. 9; pp. 829 - 835
• Main Authors: Janssens, Charlotte, Havlík, Petr, Krisztin, Tamás, Baker, Justin, Frank, Stefan, Hasegawa, Tomoko, Leclère, David, Ohrel, Sara, Ragnauth, Shaun, Schmid, Erwin, Valin, Hugo, Van Lipzig, Nicole, Maertens, Miet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.09.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 704/106/694/2739; 706/1143; 706/689/159; Adaptation; Agriculture; Climate adaptation; Climate Change; Climate change adaptation; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Climate effects; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Food; Food availability; Food security; Food supply; Global climate; Hunger; Hunger (physiology); Integration; International trade; Reduction; Regional climates; Regions; Specialization; Tariffs; Trade
• DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-0847-4
• ISSN: 1758-678X

International trade enables us to exploit regional differences in climate change impacts and is increasingly regarded as a potential adaptation mechanism. Here, we focus on hunger reduction through international trade under alternative trade scenarios for a wide range of climate futures. Under the current level of trade integration, climate change would lead to up to 55 million people who are undernourished in 2050. Without adaptation through trade, the impacts of global climate change would increase to 73 million people who are undernourished (+33%). Reduction in tariffs as well as institutional and infrastructural barriers would decrease the negative impact to 20 million (−64%) people. We assess the adaptation effect of trade and climate-induced specialization patterns. The adaptation effect is strongest for hunger-affected import-dependent regions. However, in hunger-affected export-oriented regions, partial trade integration can lead to increased exports at the expense of domestic food availability. Although trade integration is a key component of adaptation, it needs sensitive implementation to benefit all regions. The impacts of climate change on agriculture differ regionally and will increase hunger globally. Reducing tariffs and other barriers to international trade would mitigate this, but trade integration requires a careful approach to avoid reducing domestic food security in food-exporting regions.