Extreme heat is threatening global food systems, according to FAO and WMO.

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A joint report delivered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) draws attention to how much extreme heat is reshaping food production and food security globally. Without any doubt, extreme heat is emerging as one of the most urgent and least understood threats to agriculture and food security, since it is bringing global food and farming systems to the verge of collapse and endangering the source of income of over a billion people. 

According to the report, rising temperatures and frequently occurring heatwaves have a redefining impact on how food is produced worldwide.

Indeed, these hazards amplify the existing weaknesses across agricultural systems: they parch soils, reduce harvest, strain livestock, and disrupt fisheries. Moreover, in combination with water shortage, they widely affect the communities and economies that depend upon them, cutting production, lowering incomes, and tightening food supplies. They act as a powerful risk multiplier, increasing the risks of droughts and wildfires.

Agricultural workers are already experiencing effects on their health, productivity and income: extreme heat is causing half a trillion work hours to be lost each year, with impacts set to intensify as temperatures rise. 

Across farming systems, the impacts are already visible. Livestock, particularly pigs and poultry, cannot cool themselves efficiently due to extremely high temperatures, resulting in reduced growth, lower dairy yields and organ failure. In oceans, rising temperatures are lowering oxygen levels, putting fish under strain.

Moreover, in some regions, these impacts are already severe. For instance, a major heatwave across North America in 2021 led to significant losses in fruit crops and a sharp spike in forest fires. Additionally, a 2025 heat event in Kyrgyzstan made temperatures rise around 10°C above normal, contributing to a 25 percent decline in cereal harvests. Not to forget that millions of agricultural workers in parts of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are at risk of working under such high temperatures daily.

Global temperatures are about to exceed the 1.5 °C warming limit outlined in the Paris Agreement, so it is crucial to adapt to global warming and to protect the future of global agrifood systems. The only durable solution lies in multilateral climate change mitigation, operated through climate-resilient practices, improved water and land management, and the development of heat-tolerant crops and breeds.

Beyond its environmental and economic consequences, extreme heat is increasingly becoming a human rights issue. Food insecurity, loss of income and unsafe working conditions threaten fundamental rights such as the right to food, the right to health and the right to decent work. 

Agricultural workers, especially in low-income countries, are among the most exposed groups, since they are often forced to work under dangerous temperatures without adequate protection. Furthermore, vulnerable communities that have always been exposed to food and water shortages are suffering even more severe consequences, even though most of the time they have contributed the least to climate change, which has largely been caused by western industrialized countries. In this scenario of deepening global inequalities, acting to protect the environment and all the species that live in it is not only an urgent need, but also an ethical responsibility.

written by Sonia Iovine