Seeding Security: Why Agrobiodiversity Loss Threatens National Security
Summary
Agrobiodiversity loss poses significant risks to food security and may undermine political stability. Protecting diverse agricultural species is crucial for sustaining food production and responding to environmental challenges, per commentary from Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Agrobiodiversity loss poses significant risks to food security and may undermine political stability. Protecting diverse agricultural species is crucial for sustaining food production and responding to environmental challenges, per commentary from Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The issue:
Agrobiodiversity is rapidly declining, with over 90% of crop varieties vanished in the last century, jeopardizing food production and ecological balance. This decline threatens agriculture's ability to adapt to increasing food demands and climate variability, impacting global peace and security.
What they recommend:
No recommendations provided in the commentary.
Go deeper:
Global food systems rely heavily on just a few staple crops, with rice, maize, and wheat providing over half of the world's caloric intake. Increasing agrobiodiversity can enhance food security by improving resilience against shocks, such as climate events and pests, which threaten agricultural production. For instance, enhancing crop diversity has directly correlated with better dietary diversity in vulnerable populations in northern Ghana, illustrating its impact on nutrition.
This is a brief overview of a commentary from Center for Strategic and International Studies. For complete insights, we recommend reading the full commentary.