As climate change is beginning to affect food growers and suppliers worldwide, the United Nations outlined a plan to secure agricultural prosperity for future generations, according to UN.org.
One of the ideas is to share genetic resources so people everywhere have reliable crops to grow.
Dan Gustafson, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recently addressed the concerns while speaking at the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
"Climate change impacts are expected to reduce agricultural productivity, stability and incomes in many areas that already experience high levels of food insecurity," Gustafson said. "Yet world agricultural production must increase 60 percent by the middle of this century - less than 40 years from now - to keep pace with the food requirements of the world's growing population."
In regards to the bleak outlook of world agriculture, he mentioned that the world must share resources in order to prosper.
"[Genetic resources] for food and agriculture play a crucial role in enabling crops, livestock, aquatic organisms and forest trees to withstand climate change-related conditions," Gustafson said.
According to the U.N., "75 percent of crop genetic diversity was lost in the last century as farmers switched to genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties and abandoned multiple local varieties."
This could have drastic side effects if one crop were to be susceptible to certain threats, such as diseases. If there is no genetic alternative, it could be hard to recover that crop or grow a new one.
A Turkish variety of wheat from 1948 was rediscovered in the 1980's, the UN said. This particular strain was resistant to many types of disease-causing fungi and is now used as the basis for developing new wheat strains. If there was only one type of wheat for many generations, it would be impossible to alter the genetic code of a problematic crop using an older strain that may have beneficial characteristics.
As of now, there are "30,000 edible terrestrial plant species in the world," the U.N. reported.
However, "30 of those crops account for 95 percent of human food energy needs." These include foods like rice, wheat and maize. Even if genetic diversity will see a decline, Gustafson remains adamant about our future growing conditions.
"Adaptation of the agriculture sector is not merely an option, but an imperative for human survival, and genetic resources will form an essential part of any adaptation strategy," he said. "Ensuring food security in the face of climate change is among the most daunting challenges facing humankind."
