In today's world, external shocks frequently disrupt global grain security, exacerbated by ongoing climate change and disruptions, leading to crises and challenges for the global food system and world security. Against the backdrop of climate change, grain security has become a core concern for global sustainable development, influencing national security policies, sustainable agriculture promotion, and the vision of a shared human destiny. Evaluating grain security is a complex scientific task, involving multiple dimensions, indicators, and factors. There has been limited exploration of the multi-scalar, multidimensional, and multifactorial changes in grain security using interdisciplinary approaches. How to develop a comprehensive set of indicators and methods for systematically assessing grain security, accurately monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of global grain security, and elucidating the driving factors and mechanisms affecting grain security within the framework of climate change economics has emerged as an urgent and significant scientific issue.
This dissertation, building upon existing research, takes an interdisciplinary approach encompassing economics, climate change science, and grain security. Utilizing global panel data and referencing authoritative sources, a grain security assessment indicator system from the dimensions of quantity, economy, and resource security is established. It assesses the spatiotemporal dynamics of global and regional grain security from 2001 to 2020 (20 years). Furthermore, it identifies key driving factors affecting food security, including land resource, socio-economic aspects, and climate change, and explores the historical impact of these factors on grain security. Finally, it projects climate change's impact on global grain security under different climate change scenarios over the next 10-30 years. The following summarizes the main research content and conclusions:
(1) A multidimensional grain security evaluation indicator system was passively designed, and a composite grain security index (GSCI) for real-world evaluation was developed. A multidimensional grain security evaluation indicator system was autonomously designed, focusing on quantity, economic, and resource security dimensions. This system integrated various grain security elements and utilized a multi-indicator comprehensive evaluation approach to construct a robust grain security composite index (GSCI), capturing the overall status of grain security. This comprehensive design strived to achieve a comprehensive reflection of multiple dimensions of grain security and the interactions among these elements, aiming to make the assessment more accurate and targeted. The GSCI's innovation and practical value were verified through its application at both global and regional scales.
(2) The composite grain security index (GSCI) was simulated at both global and regional scales, quantifying the spatiotemporal dynamics of grain security across areas. Utilizing the GSCI as the evaluation indicator and the global grain security indicator panel dataset from 2001 to 2020, we depicted the spatiotemporal changes in global grain security level over the past two decades while revealing regional variations in grain security levels relative to the global average using a grain security composite advantage index (GCAI). A continuous global increase in grain security over the past 20 years, with particularly significant improvements in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, while sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a decline. Geographically, high GSCI values are concentrated in Europe (with a GSCI of 0.639), contrasting with lower values in sub-Saharan Africa (with a GSCI of 0.307). Notably, Europe exhibits a pronounced advantage in grain security (with a GCAI of 1.322) compared to the global average, whereas sub-Saharan Africa faces significant grain security challenges (with a GCAI of 0.54). Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean show relatively weaker grain security levels. These results highlight the dynamic shifts in grain security across different areas, providing valuable insights into the current status and trends in global grain security.
(3) The key driving factors influencing grain security were identified, and the impacts of various driving factors on grain security across different regions were evaluated during historical periods. Utilizing a dataset spanning from 2001 to 2020, we identified key driving factors influencing changes in the GSCI and introduced climate change factors into the model to assess global grain security responses over the past two decades. The results indicated that arable land area, agricultural labor force, political stability, government expenditure with an agricultural focus, and railway density were the primary driving factors significantly enhancing grain security levels. Conversely, food price inflation, annual average temperature, and deviation in precipitation from the norm were the major driving factors leading to a significant decrease in grain security levels. In particular, variations in annual mean temperature and precipitation anomalies over the past 20 years significantly reduced grain security at the global scale, with impact coefficients of -1.113 and -0.029, respectively. Among them, for every 10% increase in the annual average temperature, grain security levels in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean decreased by 10.02%, 6.85%, and 33.16%, respectively. Similarly, a 10% increase in the deviation of precipitation from the norm led to a 0.9% and 0.37% reduction in grain security levels in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, respectively.
(4) The responses of global and regional grain security to the variations of temperature and precipitation under different climate change senarios in the next 10-30 years were forecasted. The integration of a panel data model with a climate change impact model enabled the multi-model ensemble prediction of future global temperature and precipitation changes. This was employed to estimate how different regional grain security would respond to long-term climate changes in different climate change scenarios over the next 10-30 years. Future climate change will exhibit significant spatial disparities and scale effects on global grain security. Over the next 10-30 years, the overall impact of the combined drivers of temperature and precipitation on global grain security will transition from negative to positive. The impact will decrease from -37.34% to 43.74% under low emission scenario (SSP1-2.6) to -46.99% to 35.08% under high emission scenario (SSP5-8.5). At the regional level, different regions may experience varying grain security conditions due to climate change in the coming decades. In the next 10-30 years, the adverse effects of temperature and precipitation on grain security in Asia are expected to gradually weaken under three climate scenarios. Meanwhile, in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, the impact of climate change on grain security will shift from negative to positive over time, with the magnitude increasing with time and increasing emission concentrations.
Through the series of work presented in this dissertation, our aim is to offer new perspectives and directions for research on global and regional grain security and its influencing factors under the context of climate change. This work provides a scientific foundation for the development of grain security policies aligned with the achievement of sustainable development goals and contributes to the establishment of a more resilient and sustainable global food system.