Without ‘transformative adaptation’ climate change may threaten the survival of millions of small scale farmers

(Inside Climate News, 23 Jun 2021) A new report shows that, without sweeping, fundamental shifts to food systems, increasing heat, aridity and sea-level rise will also drive spikes in poverty and hunger.

Millions of small-scale farmers across the globe improve their farms over the course of their lifetimes, making adjustments here and there as they respond to changes in weather or new innovations.

But climate change is affecting their crops and livestock so rapidly that these incremental shifts won’t keep up—and that could threaten not only their survival, but upend global food security.

In a new report released Wednesday by the World Resources Institute, researchers argue for transformative adaptation, a relatively new and evolving concept based on the idea that climate change is pushing systems, including agriculture, to the brink of collapse and that fundamental changes are needed to tackle the challenges wrought by global warming.

In other words, minor fixes—even a lot of them—won’t be enough.

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Inside Climate News, 23 Jun 2021: Without ‘transformative adaptation’ climate change may threaten the survival of millions of small scale farmers