Climate and biodiversity risks to EU food imports
Working with the European Climate Foundation on how the intertwined risk of climate change and biodiversity pose a risk to food security and the need for exploratory approaches to address the high dimensionality of uncertainty.
This report is a timely and essential contribution to the reflection on food security, trade justice, and climate resilience. It highlights a fact that is at the core of the Fair Trade movement’s vision: an economic and social system is as strong as its weakest link is. Smallscale farmers – who grow the majority of several among the crops in the focus of the study – systematically sell below the cost of sustainable production, do not receive enough income to adapt to climate change, and receive barely 0.3% of international climate finance. This fact should make us fear for the stability of the full EU agri-food value chain, our own food security and the future of the EU’s companies within this chain. Unless the gap is closed, European food security as well as rural livelihoods will remain at risk.
We also advocate how a new paradigm in analysis such as the application of exploratory models allow for greater incorporation of uncertainty. This allows for the creation of more robust decisions that are more likely to succeed regardless of the future that manifests. Departments like DG-CLIMA, DG-ENV and DG-AGRI should incorporate greater use of exploratory approaches into decisions where there is deep uncertainty (i.e. climate change and biodiversity loss).
Download the full report.