Land Use and Food Security

A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "reveals how land and water are being abused, making food systems increasingly precarious and increasing the spread of desert and non-arable land". Co-author Panmao Zhai:

In general, climate change will cause declined yields, increased prices, reduced nutrient levels and disruptions in supply chains for food.

Robinson Meyer concludes:

Climate change requires us to alter the biogeochemical organism that we call the global economy on the fly, in our lifetimes. Such a task should command most of the time and attention of every economist, agriculturalist, investor, executive, and politician—anyone who fancies themselves a leader in the physical workings of the economy, or whatever we call it. It is our shame, and theirs, that they don't.

Update (August 18):  Dave Borlace discusses the IPCC report and points to George Monbiot's criticism that it "shies away from the big issues and fails to properly represent the science".

If we want to prevent both climate and ecological catastrophes, the key task is to minimise the amount of land we use to feed ourselves, while changing the way the remaining land is farmed.

Update (September 17):  The Food and Land Use Coalition offers "Ten Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use".

Update (September 19):  The Exponential Climate Action Roadmap lists 36 of the most significant solutions for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2030.