Rural livelihoods, food security and rural transformation under climate change

Abstract

Despite decades of attention to agricultural development, food security and rural poverty, poverty and food insecurity remain, especially amongst rural dwellers in Asia, Africa and Central America. With climate change the challenges only increase and will further intensify as extreme events and variable weather patterns make small-scale production even more difficult.

For any list of recommendations, leverage points or action points, the criticism can easily be that we have heard it all before. There are no silver bullets and some actions and strategies can have mixed outcomes, though nascent and yet-to-be-developed technologies could shift rural livelihoods, agriculture and the broader food systems in unexpected ways in the coming decade, both positively and negatively.

Our thesis is that transformational change in rural livelihoods is needed for climate change adaptation, that this change needs to embrace the broader food system, and that these actions can have benefits in multiple dimensions beyond climate change adaptation: poverty, nutrition, employment and the environment. If transformational change is to be achieved, several elements will be needed in synergy, with less or more emphasis on particular elements, depending on context and considering household heterogeneity.