Food security in the Pacific and East Timor and its vulnerability to climate change

Abstract

This report deals with food security and climate change in 15 Pacific Island economies in terms of the four traditional food security pillars: f adequacy (enough food on a consistent basis, either through local production or imports or food assistance from outside sources); f availability (ability of households and individuals to acquire food); f stability (resilience of food supplies to external shocks, such as natural disasters); f utilisation of food at the household level, especially by those with low incomes (requiring that people are healthy enough to process the food internally, and have adequate safe water and sanitation and food hygiene and child-care skills. In the Pacific context, safety and nutrition (food that is fresh or properly preserved and contributes to a healthy diet) are equally important and are included as a fifth pillar. Adequate food security has existed only intermittently in the region in the past and food shortages and famine conditions continue to occur, largely as a result of natural weather-related events.