By: Oforiwa Darko
From climate-related events like storms and floods to long-term shifts in weather and sea level patterns, the impacts only become clear through an understanding of who is at risk, what the risks are to people rather than just to places and how these risks vary within and across populations.
POPULATION TRENDS
Some experts say, It is impossible to understand and reduce vulnerability to these impacts without taking population dynamics into account. The warming of the planet threatens food security, freshwater supply, and human health. In the face of challenging agricultural conditions, population growth is likely to increase the number of people exposed to climate-related food shortages.
WHAT DENMARK IS DOING DIFFERENTLY
To support vulnerable groups to become resilient in the face of these climate adversities, the Danish agriculture and food industry is producing climate-friendly food products to 15 million people worldwide, including citizens of Denmark.
Through strong cooperation, the industry strives to make food production even more climate-friendly in the future, while at the same time increasing production in order to meet the growing demand for food. The sector also makes efforts to utilize raw materials and waste products for food, bioenergy and industrial non-food products optimally.
APPROACH AND OUTCOME
Today, they produce three times more food than the Danish population can consume, with some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Food producers follow a similar path to honing their ability to produce more with less and transform raw materials into high-value products.
NUMBERS, RESOURCES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Population growth, along with increasing consumption, tends to increase emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. According to the Climate Director at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, Niels Peter Norring, rapid population growth worsens the impacts of climate change by straining resources and exposing more people to climate-related risks, especially in low-resource regions.
“Population pressures undermine food security, poverty alleviation, natural resource conservation, and human health. In this regard, including population dynamics in climate change-related education and advocacy along with improvements in infrastructure and land use, would strengthen climate resilience and enable people to recognize and respond to change.”
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the link between population growth and climate vulnerability is visible around the world. Nine out of the ten most climate vulnerable countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is expected to double in population by 2050, accounting for half the world’s population growth.
An extreme example can be found in sub-Saharan Africa’s Sahel region where 100 to 200 million people will likely lack sustainable food supplies in the next 30 to 40 years.