Side Note

Before we drown, humanity will starve

Climate change impedes access to food and water to the world’s most vulnerable. Syria is facing its worst drought in 900 years. Climate change-driven drought makes it more difficult for places like Kenya to maintain successful livestock and agriculture, exacerbating hunger.

Over 815 million people in the world are chronically hungry, and the number is rising. It can be hard to make sense of a number so large, so a study released in Royal Society Publishing yesterday mapped all the parts of the world that will be affected by climate change-driven hunger and drought in the next century.

It’s almost all of it.

How much of the world will be hungry if the earth warms 2 degrees Celsius.

How much of the world will be hungry if the earth warms 2 degrees Celsius.

If the Earth warms 2 degrees Celsius compared to a pre-industrial Earth, this is how much of the world will be vulnerable to hunger. The darker the red, the more vulnerable the area. It averages five different climate models—which make slightly different assumptions about air and water circulation.

How much of the world will be hungry if the earth warms 1.5 degrees Celsius.

How much of the world will be hungry if the earth warms 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This image shows world hunger under the assumption that the world won’t warm 2 degrees Celsius, but 1.5 degrees. It’s been repeatedly noted that this figure is basically impossible to achieve.

Europe and countries such as the United States, Canada or Australia will encounter these environmental consequences, but they aren’t expected to be more vulnerable to food insecurity. It will affect the billions people in South America, Africa, Asia, and Pacific islands—or basically, almost the entire planet.