Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought
Climate-induced food production shocks, like droughts, can cause food shortages and price spikes, leading to food insecurity. In 2007, a synchronous crop failure in Lesotho and South Africa—Lesotho’s sole trading partner—led to a period of severe food insecurity in Lesotho. Here, we use extreme even...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2021
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| _version_ | 1797084749674577920 |
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| author | Verschuur, J Li, S Wolski, P Otto, FEL |
| author_facet | Verschuur, J Li, S Wolski, P Otto, FEL |
| author_sort | Verschuur, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Climate-induced food production shocks, like droughts, can cause food shortages and price spikes, leading to food insecurity. In 2007, a synchronous crop failure in Lesotho and South Africa—Lesotho’s sole trading partner—led to a period of severe food insecurity in Lesotho. Here, we use extreme event attribution to assess the role of climate change in exacerbating this drought, going on to evaluate sensitivity of synchronous crop failures to climate change and its implications for food security in Lesotho. Climate change was found to be a critical driver that led to the 2007 crisis in Lesotho, aggravating an ongoing decline in food production in the country. We show how a fragile agricultural system in combination with a large trade-dependency on a climatically connected trading partner can lead to a nonlinear response to climate change, which is essential information for building a climate-resilient food-supply system now and in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:59:23Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9cd2b616-7dde-4a98-8f50-731572086f38 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:59:23Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9cd2b616-7dde-4a98-8f50-731572086f382022-03-27T00:38:47ZClimate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa droughtJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9cd2b616-7dde-4a98-8f50-731572086f38EnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer Nature2021Verschuur, JLi, SWolski, POtto, FELClimate-induced food production shocks, like droughts, can cause food shortages and price spikes, leading to food insecurity. In 2007, a synchronous crop failure in Lesotho and South Africa—Lesotho’s sole trading partner—led to a period of severe food insecurity in Lesotho. Here, we use extreme event attribution to assess the role of climate change in exacerbating this drought, going on to evaluate sensitivity of synchronous crop failures to climate change and its implications for food security in Lesotho. Climate change was found to be a critical driver that led to the 2007 crisis in Lesotho, aggravating an ongoing decline in food production in the country. We show how a fragile agricultural system in combination with a large trade-dependency on a climatically connected trading partner can lead to a nonlinear response to climate change, which is essential information for building a climate-resilient food-supply system now and in the future. |
| spellingShingle | Verschuur, J Li, S Wolski, P Otto, FEL Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title | Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title_full | Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title_fullStr | Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title_short | Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought |
| title_sort | climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 lesotho south africa drought |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT verschuurj climatechangeasadriveroffoodinsecurityinthe2007lesothosouthafricadrought AT lis climatechangeasadriveroffoodinsecurityinthe2007lesothosouthafricadrought AT wolskip climatechangeasadriveroffoodinsecurityinthe2007lesothosouthafricadrought AT ottofel climatechangeasadriveroffoodinsecurityinthe2007lesothosouthafricadrought |