Diversification for climate resilience: a global priority

The world urgently needs to maintain agrobiodiversity to build climate resilience. Projections suggest that climate change will reduce production of maize, potato, rice and wheat – the world’s main food calorie sources – by 5% by 2050 in many of the most populous southern regions where smallholders play a high role in food production. Already, the war in Ukraine has reduced access to chemical fertiliser and food in many of these regions.To avoid food insecurity and famine, countries must secure land tenure, enhance the agrobiodiversity of their production systems, and develop markets for their crops.