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Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn
The agencies said extreme heat is already costing half a trillion work hours a year and could intensify without faster adaptation and emissions cuts.
- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Meteorological Organization reported extreme heat is pushing global food systems to "the brink," threatening livelihoods and health of more than a billion people.
- Extreme heat acts as a "major risk multiplier," said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, intensifying droughts and wildfires while cutting crop yields once temperatures exceed about 30 degrees Celsius.
- Prolonged heat in Brazil during 2023 and 2024 cut soybean yields by as much as 20 per cent, while a 2025 heat event in Kyrgyzstan caused a 25 per cent decline in cereal harvests.
- Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, with 91 per cent of the world's oceans experiencing at least one such event in 2024, depleting oxygen and threatening fish stocks.
- The FAO and WMO called for better risk governance and early-warning weather systems to help farmers and fishers take preventive action, stating piecemeal responses are inadequate.
41 Articles
41 Articles
Agricultural crop productivity begins to decline at temperatures above 30°C.
Tables Collapsing Under Scorching Heat: UN Warns Global Food System on the Brink of Breakdown. Agriculture and Livestock Hit Hard by Spreading Heatwaves; Working Days in Major Production Regions Expected to Decrease. FAO and WMO: Food Supply Chains Already at Their Limits; Urgent Climate Response Needed. Due to extreme heatwaves intensifying over the past few years, the global food system
Extreme heat pushes global agrifood systems to brink, UN report warns
• Notes heatwaves threaten crop yields; rising temperatures disproportionately affect women farmers• Urges shift to proactive measures like early warning systems ISLAMABAD: Extreme heat threatens to push global agrifood systems to the brink, with rising temperatures posing severe hazards to people, crops, livestock and fish, a new United Nations assessment report warned on Wednesday. The report, jointly released by the World Meteorological Organ…
Extreme heat threatens global food systems – UN agencies
ROME — Extreme heat is pushing global agricultural food systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the United Nations’ food and weather agencies.
Heatwaves can pose a threat to the health and livelihoods of more than one billion people.
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