3 How will climate change affect food security?

3.1 What is food security and food sovereignty?

Food security is defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation as ‘a condition in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’. Details can be found on the Ryerson Centre for Food Security website.

Food sovereignty is a people’s, country’s or state’s right, rather than the right of transnational corporations, to define and control their own agricultural policies. Trade liberalisation policies prioritise international trade rather than food for people. They, therefore, contribute to climate change by perpetuating a fossil fuel energy intensive globalised food system. For examples visit the website of La Via Campesina the International Peasant Movement.