Climate change can contribute to food shortages by reducing how much food is produced, disrupting how it is distributed, and making it harder for people to afford nutritious diets. These impacts tend to hit poorer and more climate‑exposed regions first and hardest.
Lower crop and livestock yields
- Higher average temperatures and more frequent heat waves stress crops like wheat, maize, and rice, lowering yields and in some places causing outright crop failure.
- Droughts, floods, and storms damage fields, kill livestock, erode soil, and can take years to recover from, so the same land produces less food over time.
Damage to land, water, and oceans
- Repeated extreme events degrade soil fertility and increase erosion, making farmland less productive and in some cases unusable.
- Changing rainfall patterns and more intense droughts reduce water available for irrigation, while warming and acidifying oceans shrink fish stocks that many communities rely on for protein.
Disrupted supply chains and higher prices
- Floods, landslides, and storms can destroy roads, bridges, storage facilities, and ports, interrupting transport of food from farms to markets and raising the risk of local shortages.
- When harvests fail in multiple regions or key exporting areas, global supplies tighten and food prices rise, putting basic staples out of reach for low‑income households.
Increased vulnerability and conflict risk
- Climate‑driven harvest losses and price spikes can push millions into poverty and hunger, especially in regions already facing insecurity or weak safety nets.
- Scarcity of land, water, and food can aggravate social tensions and contribute to conflict and displacement, further disrupting agriculture and deepening food shortages.
