Building National Resilience: Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in the Province of Punjab

Abstract

This study revolves around the analysis of governments’ policies made to mitigate the impacts of climate change on food security in Punjab province. Punjab is the hub of agricultural produce in the country and the whole country’s food security is dependent on this province. The changing climate has posed a negative impact on the agricultural production in Punjab province. In this context, the study explores the policies made are effective enough to address the root causes of climate change on food security in Punjab. It also aims to scrutinize the adaptability and resilience building through the government initiated policies. More so, the study aims to provide suggestions so as to ensure effective policy formulation and implementation to enhance climate resilience for food security in Punjab. It’s a time series analysis (2012-2022) which makes use of qualitative data tools including semi-structured interviews from experts in the field of food security to gather firsthand information about the policy outcomes in Punjab. The results uncovered significant gaps in the existing policies. There also exists a huge gap between policy formulation and implementation on the ground level. The study also revealed significant issues in the implementation and efficacy of the existing policies. In addition to this, the research also indicated that government has achieved some degree of success in adaptability to climate change but this success is in specific sub-sectors of agriculture. In terms of resilience building, the results suggest that government has not been successful in building resilience to climate change in agriculture sector as of yet. However, it is still in learning phase. Lastly, this study also provides suggestion that ensure effective formulation and implementation of policies to build resilience in agriculture sector.