Editorial: Adaptation strategies to climate change impacts on food systems in Asia: greater efforts toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

<p>Climate change and its impact have been a major theme in the global economic discourse, posting significant challenges to agricultural production and associated systems (Shahzad et al., 2021). The agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to climate dynamics as it directly depends on natural resources and is exposed to seasonal meteorological events (van Oort and Zwart, 2018; Abbas and Mayo, 2021). The unfavorable impacts of global warming and unpredictable climatic events have had detrimental effects on the productivity, efficiency, and resilience of important agricultural systems (Otsuka and Fan, 2021).</p> <p>These concerns are particularly pronounced in the Asian region, where agrarian pursuits constitute the cornerstone of their large and rapidly growing economies and the livelihoods of a substantial proportion of the populace. Changing weather induces pest and disease outbreaks, causing crop failures (Masud et al.). Heat stresses on crops and livestock reduce productivity, while floods and droughts cause yield losses (Farhad et al.; Wang et al.). In particular, climate change hotspots are frequently reported in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam in association with paddy- and wheat-based production systems (Ho et al., 2022; Chandrasiri et al., 2023). In this light, farming communities and associated stakeholders have been exploring strategies to adapt to climate change, with the overarching goal of maintaining the yield of food crops (Gorst et al., 2018; Abegunde et al., 2019).</p> <p>Although farmers have embraced an array of strategies in response to climatic stresses, the effective adoption of suitable practices has not consistently been realized due to contextual differences or limitations in adaptive capacity (Cradock-Henry et al., 2020). The agrarian transformation in the face of climatic challenges holds a direct bearing on the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly No Poverty (SDG1), Zero Hunger (SDG 2), and Climate Action (SDG 13) (UNDP, 2020). This adaptive process resonates closely with certain objectives under Gender Equality (SDG 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), and Life on Land (SDG 15). In practice, achieving these SDGs requires that strategies for adaptation be designed to curtail the loss of productivity, bolster food security, and promote environmental sustainability (Tschakert et al., 2023). To ensure agricultural sustainability, there is an imperative to minimize the dependence on external and synthetic inputs in the agricultural production processes for both staple commodities and high-value crops (Tsusaka and Otsuka, 2013; Lipper et al., 2018; Deguine et al., 2023).</p>