Global impact of climate change on water, soil resources and threat towards food security: evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

Climate change significantly increasing water demand, limiting crop productivity, reducing water availability in areas where irrigation is most needed or has comparative advantage in some other regions. Higher temperatures will increase water demand, and where rainfall declines, many will seek more irrigation to ensure food security and maintain livelihoods. At the same time water supplies available for irrigation will become more variable and will decline in many parts of the world. New agricultural demands will be further tempered by the need to achieve better equity in access to reliable food supplies than in the past. Soils are the support of primary production in terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, agricultural production of food and fiber for the human population is strongly dependent on soil resources. At the ecological and human time scales, soil resources are non-renewable. Therefore, soil conservation is a critical factor to ensure increasing food demands. Soils can be a carbon (C) source and sink. Various factors have impact on food security including agronomic, institutional, political factors, in addition to climatic factors. Climate change is considered the most crucial factor influencing food security. Food security includes different dimensions, namely production, distribution and accessibility. Considering food production dimension.