Climate Change and The Right to Food in Africa

Climate change is now recognized as a serious environmental problem of the 21st century. Although developing countries in general and Africa in particular have played almost an insignificant role in causing global warming, they are likely to suffer most from its impacts. Droughts in Africa are getting worse and climate uncertainty is growing. This makes subsistence agricultural farming on which the majority of the people in Africa depend difficult. Most of the agricultural activities in African countries are rain-fed and any adverse changes in the climate will have a devastating impact on the agricultural sector and the livelihood of the majority of the population. Adverse climate change may result in a reduction of crop yields and low livestock productivity, which will increase the risk of hunger and malnutrition. Climate change is thus likely
to increase Africa’s existing risks and vulnerabilities, especially in the area of food security. Yet, most African countries are party to international human rights instruments, which oblige them to ensure an adequate standard of living, including the right to adequate food for their citizens. Against the above background, the paper argues that the right to food should be at the centre of strategies to tackle the problem of climate change in Africa.