New University of Sydney research published in Nature Food today has modelled the wide-ranging impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on Australia’s food systems and supply chains, identifying potential cascading repercussions including job and income loss as well as a loss in nutrient availability and diet quality.
Led by Dr Arunima Malik from the Integrated Sustainability Analysis (ISA) group in the Faculty of Science and the School of Business, the paper analysed the climate change impacts across different sectors and regions in Australia. The researchers found that climate change and extreme weather events have impacts across communities, with rural regions the most adversely impacted.
The study also found that climatic events, such as cyclones, floods, bushfires and heatwaves could affect surrounding areas by way of limiting food availability and employment. The effects of these events could be felt in distant regions due to the complex interconnectivity of modern supply chains.
Read more at: University of Sydney