Rationale
Global environmental change (GEC) is happening. Human activities, including those related to the production, supply and consumption of food, are partly responsible for changing the world’s climate and giving rise to other, globally- and locally-important environmental changes. These include a changes in freshwater supplies, carbon and nitrogen cycling, biodiversity, and land cover and soils.
There is growing concern that GEC will further complicate achieving food security – particularly for more vulnerable sections of society. There is also concern that meeting society’s rising demand for food will further degrade the environment. This may, in turn, further undermine the food systems upon which food security is based. There is an urgent need to frame and execute research on the components of food systems (ie availability, access and use) within a GEC context, so that the global science community can play its crucial role in improving food security whilst minimising further environmental degradation.
GECAFS is a Joint Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). GECAFS also has formal research partnerships with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).