Academic: Climate Change a Multidimensional Challenge to Food Security

Medan (ANTARA) - Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Sumatera Utara (USU) Prof Arida Susilowati has stated that climate change is a multidimensional challenge that can directly impact food security, ecosystem sustainability, and the provision of environmental services. “Increasing global temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, forest and land fires, and ecosystem degradation have affected the productivity of the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries sectors, while increasing community vulnerability to food crises and ecological disasters,” she said in Medan on Tuesday. She explained that in the context of food security, climate change not only impacts the decline in food commodity productivity due to disrupted planting seasons and increased pest and disease attacks, but also threatens the stability of food supply, distribution, and community access to safe and nutritious food. She noted that the recent National Convention on Science, Technology, and Industry (KSTI) 2026 emphasised that forest ecosystems play a central role in maintaining climate stability and supporting food security through various environmental services they provide. Forests function as carbon sinks and storage, regulators of the hydrological cycle, protectors of watersheds, guardians of soil fertility, erosion controllers, habitats for biodiversity, and providers of non-timber forest products that serve as sources of food, medicine, and livelihoods for communities. Forest degradation and land conversion not only increase greenhouse gas emissions but also reduce the capacity of ecosystems to provide environmental services that are essential for the sustainability of life. The convention also highlighted the importance of Nature-based Solutions as an approach capable of simultaneously addressing the challenges of climate change. Sustainable forest management, critical land rehabilitation, peatland and mangrove restoration, biodiversity conservation, and the development of agroforestry systems are considered capable of increasing carbon sequestration, improving environmental quality, maintaining water availability, while increasing land productivity and community welfare. This approach is an important part of supporting low-carbon development and strengthening socio-ecological resilience at both local and national levels. From an academic perspective, she said climate change must be seen as an opportunity to transform the direction of research, education, and community service. Higher education institutions need to strengthen transdisciplinary research that integrates forestry, agriculture, environment, economics, technology, and public policy to produce applicable solutions. Research should not only be directed at scientific publications but also at innovations that can be adopted by the government, the business world, and communities, such as adaptive agroforestry models, community-based landscape rehabilitation, forest fire early warning systems, carbon monitoring technology, and the development of a bioeconomy based on non-timber forest products. In addition to producing innovations, universities need to act as providers of science-based evidence to support the formulation of national policies on food security, forest management, and climate change adaptation.