Beyond policy and tech: New framework argues human transformation is critical for climate-resilient food systems

By Glenn Concepcion

A new opinion piece published in Climate Research argues that effectively tackling the climate crisis requires a radical shift in focus: moving beyond technological fixes and institutional policy to prioritize human and societal transformations.

Authored by a multidisciplinary team from various organizations, including climate scientist Dr. Jon Hellin from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the paper contends that a grand vision integrating climate and sustainability thinking with human psychology, beliefs, and values is essential for resilient food systems.

The context for this urgent call is dire. Climate change severely threatens global food security through increased droughts, floods, and rising temperatures, simultaneously worsening poverty and malnutrition. The agricultural sector is both a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and a primary victim of climate impacts. Furthermore, risks to food availability, conflict, and public health can interact and cascade across communities, acting as a risk multiplier.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report already calls for a paradigm shift from an incremental climate response to a transformative one. This transformative adaptation must address the root causes of vulnerability and necessitates radical change in food systems, including shifting power dynamics among value chain actors. Recent global shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the food system reverberations of the invasion of Ukraine, starkly revealed the low levels of resilience in global food systems, especially impacting the poorest.