Vulnerability of food security to global change

Abstract

The utility of a food systems approach: Social science explanations of how and why people are vulnerable have stressed the importance of context (the social, economic, political, cultural, and other root causes or structural factors) in determining the nature of such vulnerability (O’Brien et al. 2007; Adger 2006; Bohle 2001). They have also argued that vulnerability must be understood as dynamic and interactive, not a static condition that can be assessed with linear causal models. These arguments make particular sense in the case of analyzing how food security will be affected by global environmental change. Food security is a multidimensional phenomenon (Ericksen 2008a), with four main components (availability, access, utilization, and stability). Each of these is in turn influenced by multiple factors (Ziervogel and Ericksen 2010). Thus food availability is in part determined by how much food is produced, but also by how well such food is distributed. Access to food is critically a function of income, along with functioning markets. Utilization of food depends upon social preferences as well as adequate human health, in addition to the availability of nutritious food. Food insecure households are often the poorest and marginalized groups, or those with poor health.