Droughts and desertification: Is the region's food security threatened?
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Brazil, the most cosmopolitan country in Latin America, has been hit by what has been considered its worst drought in a hundred years, one that has affected, according to the newspaper O Globo, more than 46 million people who today suffer serious difficulties in their social and economic activities due to the scarcity of water. But the Latin American giant is not alone: Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador are some of the other countries hit by this natural disaster that, among other things, generates desertification and causes the soil to lose productivity. The immediate effect? Problems in food security and ecosystems.
Jorge Carrasco, meteorologist and researcher of the Fifth Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), explained to ConexiónCOP that droughts also affect agriculture and livestock; in addition, productivity decreases and can be catastrophic because some products may become scarce or their purchasing value could increase, generating, in addition, problems in the economy. He also argues that the lack of rainfall and the increase in temperature have an impact on the reduction of glaciers, accentuating the lack of water availability and, in extreme situations, the affected populations must migrate.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has highlighted that, due to droughts, soybean and coffee crops have been affected in Brazil. The World Food Program (WFP) reported that last year the people of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador received humanitarian aid to counteract the social, environmental and economic damage caused by the droughts; in addition, food production was one of the major problems.
Droughts and climate change
Carrasco explains that droughts cannot be directly linked to climate change, although there could be some nexus.
“When we talk about global warming, we are referring to trends on the planet; in that sense, predictions point to the fact that, by the end of this century, extreme events will occur and droughts could increase in duration and intensity.”, refers.
The scientist adds that it is very likely that the droughts are forced by natural oscillations in the climate system, “for example, the decadal oscillation [a climate variation] of the Pacific, which, in its negative phase, favors the occurrence of events such as La Niña and, therefore, a period of several years with little rainfall, as has occurred in much of Chile,” he explains.
Furthermore, he explains that desertification, which generates land degradation and makes it less productive, may reach extreme cases, such as becoming economically less productive and, in extreme cases, turning it into deserts unable to sustain the communities that developed in certain areas.
“Many of these situations occur in regions with low precipitation, a prolonged dry season and recurrent droughts. Hence, these regions are identified and are vulnerably exposed to climate changes in the future; in particular, the increase in temperature together with the decrease in precipitation would cause these regions to expand and shift. For example, the semi-arid region of Chile would move southward, reaching the central zone”, sustains.
Jacob Van Etten, researcher at Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), states that Latin America has always been a region prone to droughts and desertification, which are intensified by deforestation that generates serious consequences for the water cycle.
“Currently two million people have food security problems in Central America, which is largely due to drought and to some extent to climatic problems such as coffee rust, considered one of the most catastrophic plant diseases.”, indicates.
What is being done in Latin America?
One of the ways to face the problems generated by droughts and desertification is through adaptation. That is why AR5 proposes different adaptation options that offer various benefits in terms of yields in agricultural production. For example, changing crop varieties provides an average benefit of 23%, compared to 3% for optimizing irrigation or 1% for increasing fertilizer use.
Ana María Loboguerrero, leader of the Research Program for Latin America (CGIAR), explains that different projects are being carried out in the region to promote adaptation to climate phenomena such as droughts.
“In Nicaragua, we work with producers on special reservoirs to capture and store excess rainwater during the country's wet season. These water harvesting systems make it possible to maintain agricultural production during the dry season”, sustains. AR5 research shows that other adaptation efforts that bring tangible benefits include water harvesting, storage and water-use efficiency measures, as well as diversification of on- and off-farm activities to reduce exposure to climate risks.
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