Food shock: Crop-battering disasters highlight climate threat

Food production is both a key source of planet-warming emissions and highly exposed to the effects of climate change.

Rolling crises linked to war, weather disasters and the pandemic have shaken global food systems and tipped millions into hunger and poverty.

Climate change is already playing a role, as floods, droughts and heatwaves batter harvests from Europe to Asia and threaten famine in the Horn of Africa.

And experts warn this could be just the beginning.

"If we don't act now, this is just a sample of what may happen in the coming years," said Mamadou Goita, an expert with sustainability group IPES-Food, which works with farmers' organisations in Africa and around the world.

This issue will be in focus as never before at high-stakes UN climate negotiations, to be held in Egypt next month.

Food production is both a key source of planet-warming emissions and highly exposed to the effects of climate change.

Some risks are slow-burning -- falling yields, warming oceans, seasonal mismatches between pollinators and plants, and heat threats to farm workers.