Climate change to cause more child hunger: report

By Muchena Zigomo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Up to 25 million more children will be malnourished in the next 40 years due to climate change, with sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia the worst affected, according to a new report issued on Wednesday.

The report, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and detailing the impact of climate change on agriculture, says without climate change about 113 million children under five years of age will be malnourished by 2050.

But that number is expected to rise dramatically due to the ravaging effects of global warming on food production around the world, IFPRI said.

"Crop yields will decline, production will be affected, crop and meat prices will increase and consumption of cereals will fall, leading to reduced calorie intake and increased child malnutrition," the report reads.

The IFPRI said although food prices would rise even without climate change, the added effect of global warming would worsen the problem.

"Without climate change, 2050 wheat prices will increase globally by almost 40 percent. With climate change, wheat prices will increase by 170-194 percent," it said. "Rice is projected to increase 60 percent without climate change, but it will go up 113-121 percent with climate change."

IFPRI said global warming would push maize prices up by between 148 percent and 153 percent.

The institute said African countries were especially susceptible to global warming because of their dependence on rain-fed agriculture, higher levels of poverty and poor infrastructure.