Climate Change, Food Security, and Health: Harnessing Agroecology to Build Climate-Resilient Communities

Abstract

Climate change threatens human health, food security, and ecological sustainability. In marginalized and vulnerable communities around the globe, there is a crucial need to initiate actions to reduce adverse climatic impacts and support sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly on food and health. Climate change’s multidimensional and complex impact on food and health has prompted calls for an integrated, science-based approach that could simultaneously improve the environment and nourish development-constrained communities. This paper examines a transdisciplinary practice of agroecology that bridges the gap between science, practice, and policy for climate action. We also analyze the significance of agroecology in building climate-resilient communities through sustainable food systems. We assert that the marriage of science and local knowledge that addresses access inequities through agroecology can lessen the impact of climate change on rural communities to achieve healthier, more sustainable, and equitable food systems. Furthermore, a transformative agroecological paradigm can provide farmers with a host of adaptive possibilities leading to healthier communities, improved food security, and restored lands and forests that can sequester greenhouse gases. Based on our findings, we call on the science and policy communities to integrate agroecology as part of the broader strategic approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation.