Abstract

There is a growing concern that Global environmental change (GEC) will exacerbate the stress on Southern African food systems leading to increasing food insecurity, which is signified by rising levels of chronic and severe malnutrition and rates of stunting in children. The situation is further exacerbated by insufficient understanding on how the region’s food systems currently operate, in which ways they are vulnerable to GEC and what types of adaptation options are most likely to be viable at present and in the future. This paper identifies key research challenges to food system vulnerability and the impacts of GEC; policy and technical adaptation options; and possible consequences of different adaptation pathways, set in the context of regional socioeconomic and environmental conditions.

Key words: Southern Africa, food security, global environmental change (GEC), policy formulation, food systems.