Impact of climate change on food source in Pacific unknown: report
16/10/2008 16:04
The exact magnitude and nature of climate change impacts on food sources
in Pacific island countries were relatively unknown, according to a report on
climate change and food security in the Pacific.
The report, jointly prepared
by the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Program (SPREP) and the University
of the South Pacific(USP) said the Pacific Island Countries must begin to
implement adaptation measures like expanding seed banks and increasing
investments in primary food sources, the Pacnews reported today.
The report
agreed that climate variations have disrupted food production, water supply and
the economies of Pacific nations. A group of climate change experts in the
Pacific were meeting in Apia,the capital of Samoa, for the Pacific Climate
Change Roundtable.
"The primary food sources (agriculture, fisheries and
forests and water) will be impacted by climate change and in most cases, these
impacts will be negative," the Pacnews quoted the report as saying.
"There is
a worrying trend throughout the Pacific today that demand for food is
increasingly being serviced by imports. Basic staples such as rice and wheat for
flour are key substitutes of traditional diets that are now part and parcel of a
Pacific Islander's daily diet," the report said.
"This is a critical
situation in terms of food and nutritional security, given the volatility of
international commodity prices," it added.
Currently, in Solomon Islands, a
20 kg bag of rice costs around 15-US$20, the report said.
The above example
denotes that future food security for the Pacific cannot be left solely to
dependency on imports. If that is the case, then poverty would increase and the
ability of a Pacific nation to deliver on its Millennium Development Goals
obligations would be seriously compromised, it added.
Moreover, cheap food
imports have also contributed to the rise in heart diseases, obesity and other
health complications in the Pacific Islands, as such, improvements to local food
production are pertinent in strengthening resilience and more so in a changing
climate regime, it added.
In some countries large-scale deforestation has led
to monoculture crop production solely aimed at earning foreign exchange. As a
result, prices of locally produced crops are higher compared to imported goods
such as rice and flour.
Another contributing factor is the prolonged
variations from the normal rainfall, which can be devastating to
agriculture.
The report recommends that Pacific Island governments mainstream
climate change knowledge at every level of national planning.
Xinhua
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