Food security
Around the world, thousands of species of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms are used for food.
This huge variety of life allows food to be produced in different environments and helps provide people with diverse and balanced diets.
Beyond the species we eat, a vast range of others are also essential to food production – ranging from pollinators that enable crop reproduction to microorganisms that enrich soils.
If we don’t maintain this rich biodiversity, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of preventing hunger by 2030 is unlikely to be achieved.
Bananas at risk
There are thousands of banana varieties around the world but just one variety (the Cavendish) is responsible for 99% of global exports.
Relying on just one variety means that the banana industry is extremely vulnerable to outbreaks of disease. So, news that the Cavendish is no longer resistant to the destructive Panama disease has caused shockwaves. Millions of people around the world depend on bananas for a significant part of their calory intake.
Disappearing food
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Coffee
60% of coffee varieties are in danger of extinction due to climate change, disease, and deforestation. This includes the Arabica variety – the one most coffee drinkers enjoy on a daily basis. Such extinctions would put global coffee markets at significant risk, affecting the livelihoods of many smallholder farmers.
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Potatoes
Adaptable and highly productive, the potato has saved millions from hunger. Yet, weather extremes caused by climate change could drive 13 wild potato species to extinction by 2055. Such a loss could be catastrophic. For example, in 2007 an unexpected frost wiped out the entire potato harvest in Peru’s Huancavelica region, except for one variety: Yana manua. This single variety saved these families from extreme hunger.
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Strawberries
Strawberries in the US are at risk due to increasing temperatures as a result of climate change. A study by the International Society for Horticultural Science has shown that the hotter-than-normal temperatures are delaying their flowering - a trend that could be a sign of a more permanent decrease in strawberry production.
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Chocolate
Cacao - the essential ingredient for chocolate - can only grow in a specific set of conditions, making it incredibly sensitive to things like temperature change. So it’s worrying that climate change is causing increasingly volatile temperatures in many regions where the crop is grown. A study by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) shows that many farmers will begin to see a substantial decrease in cacoa production by 2030.
What you can do
If we continue to destroy the natural world, we will see more outbreaks like COVID-19, and the next pandemic could be even more deadly and costly.
Take action now
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