Zero Hunger Zero Emissions

How can countries ensure food security in a world threatened by dangerous levels of climate change whilst at the same time make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts? The Zero Hunger – Zero Emissions Project set out to explore how societies can engage in difficult yet inclusive debates around achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and 13 (Climate Action).

The Zero Hunger – Zero Emissions project has brought together food, environment and development researchers and practitioners from Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam Bangladesh and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at the Independent University of Bangladesh to explore how participatory scenarios development can help to enable a new debate on these key societal goals, their interactions and the implications of different development pathways for reaching them.

Food systems and the people in them are at the intersection of hunger, poverty and environmental goals. Creating resilient food systems is central to climate change adaptation, but changing agriculture, land use and food systems to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation will likely assume much greater importance, particularly in light of the commitments in the Paris Agreement.

Bangladesh is an example of a country that has made great strides in food security whilst facing enormous challenges from climate change. The country made various emission reductions commitments but its current policies and future development trajectories contain contradictions that might endanger these goals. Agriculture - which provides the livelihoods for the majority of people - is estimated to be responsible for 40% of overall emissions and may come under increasing pressure to deliver reductions.

This research has designed and tested an inclusive and replicable process based on participatory scenario methodology to enable those debates to take place in ways that involve broad swathes of society, including people at the sharp end who often have least voice.



Man in field

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