PR | IFPRI3; Land Resource Management for Poverty Reduction | EPTD

PR | EPTD; | IFPRI3; | Journal article

In this review paper we focus on the dilemma of whether or not current fresh water supply will meet the demand/needs of agricultural crops despite the continuing impact of water scarcity. In addition, we evaluate whether an increase in future population, change in water demand and supply patterns, due to climate change, will allow sustainable food production. With increased scarcity of freshwater, new water conservation technologies and biotechnology were developed, as well as newly developed water sources such as recycled wastewater, and various water institutions, which may help ease water scarcity. With new advancements in farming practices and crop innovations global food supply is still challenged by climate change effects on both water and land resources used for food production.

The current and projected warming of the earth is unequivocal with humans playing a strong role as both perpetrators and victims. The warming on the African continent is projected to be greater than the global average with an increased average temperature of 3–6°C by the end of the century under a high Representative Concentration Pathway. In Africa, the Sub-Saharan region is identified as the most vulnerable to the changing climate due to its very low capacity to adapt to or mitigate climate change. While it is common to identify studies conducted to assess how climate change independently impacts water, land, or food resources, very limited studies have sought to address the interlinkages, synergies, and trade-offs existing between climate change, water, land, and food (WLF) resources as a system in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The climate change and WLF security nexus, therefore, seeks to address this shortfall in literature and subsequently serve as a relevant source of information for decision-making and policy implementation concerning climate change mitigation and adaptation. In this study, 41 relevant studies were selected from Web of Science, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and institutional websites. We provide information on the independent relationships between climate change and WLF resources, and further discuss the existing inter-linkages between climate change and the WLF security in SSA using the nexus approach, with recommendations on how decision making and policy implementations should be done using the climate change and WLF security nexus approach.