Children at Risk: How Climate Change Drives Food Insecurity and Stunting in Children in East Nusa Tenggara Province in Indonesia
Arif Budi Darmawan¹, Muhammad Harist Syahirul A’en², Debby Paramitasari³, Nur Ayu Fitriani², Abimanyu Arya Atmaja Abdullah4
¹PACE Program Officer, Resilience Development Initiative ²Global Health Research Officer, Resilience Development Initiative ³Children Social Welfare and Health (CSWH) Program Officer, Resilience Development Initiative 4Disaster and Climate Resilience Program Officer, Resilience Development Initiative
Physiologically, children are among vulnerable groups in the human life cycle. The disruptions of human early life stages, particularly within infants and children will significantly influence the later life stages. The potential impacts are potential impairment in their cognitive function, respiratory, immune system, and others (Bagattini, 2019). One external factor that potentially exacerbates the physiologically vulnerability of children is climate change. The impacts of climate change are disproportionately experienced by children based on socioeconomic, cultural, political, and geographical location differences (World Bank, n.d.) Globally, one of the notable impacts of climate change on humans, including children, is food insecurity which resulted from the disruption of agricultural production systems due to changes in temperature and rainfall patterns. Moreover, the loss of biodiversity and damage to water, air, and soil due to climate change has worsened the nutritional prospects of millions of children. Consistent access to safe and nutritious food is essential for children's healthy lives to reach their full physical, cognitive, and psychological potential and critical development (Gallegos et al., 2021; UNICEF, 2019). Severe conditions of food insecurity lead children to experience malnutrition, such as stunting and wasting (UNICEF, 2024). Providing equal access to safe and adequate food nutrition is a part of fulfilling children's rights and tackling malnutrition problems (UNICEF, n.d.). This article will explore the association of climate change impacts and malnutrition, particularly stunting. The focus location is Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) which is known as drought prone areas due to climate change. We argue that climate change intensifies the food insecurity and stunting crisis in NTT. The significant weather events in NTT, including Cyclone Seroja in 2021 and extreme drought from 2023 to 2024 worsened stunting cases in the same years. Some recommendations also will be provided for the government and related stakeholders to solve these issues. Climate Change and Food Insecurity, and Stunting in NTT NTT is extremely impacted by climate change. Eight regions in NTT were reported to face extreme drought in 2023, while 14 Kabupaten were on alert status for extreme drought, with a total of 50 to 60 days without rain at all. The condition affected 180.9 hectares of paddy fields, 1,633 hectares of horticulture, 2.6 million pig farms, and 1.1 million cow farms (Ama and Herin, 2023). Instead of poverty, drought was the main contributing factor to the increased number of stunting cases in NTT. The scarcity of water due to drought omits the main irrigation resource, resulting in paddy and paddy and corn crop failure from late 2023 to early 2024 (Arif, 2024). This condition is a huge disaster for agricultural activities in NTT, which is highly dependent on the intensity of rain (Kehi, 2024). Besides drought, NTT also confronted Cyclone Seroja. It caused significant damage to thousands of residential buildings, increasing the community's vulnerabilities (RDI, 2024). The cyclone adversely affected food crops, resulting in decreased production of rice, sorghum, and other horticultural plants, tightening food insecurity in the region (Rosary, 2021). Climate change has amplified the impact of food shortages in NTT, resulting in a rice deficit of 211,419.03 tons in 2022. This shortage has compelled the local government to depend on rice supplies from other regions. The rice crisis intensified in 2023 when suppliers experienced crop failures and delays in delivery. To prevent crop failures, the central government constructed a dam to provide farmers with the necessary water supply. However, the dam's effectiveness has been limited due to insufficient water levels caused by drought, making it challenging to support farmers adequately. Most of the agricultural land in NTT uses a rain-fed irrigation system. Based on the statistics, there are around 355,971 hectares of agriculture using rain-fed irrigation; only 10 percent of the field was cultivated. The extreme drought in 2023 disrupted the planting season's predictability, leading NTT to face a food deficit (Herin, 2023). Even worse, food insecurity leads to higher prices for essential food items. For instance, in NTT, the cost of medium-quality rice has risen from IDR 13,000 per kilogram to IDR 18,000 per kilogram. High food prices make it difficult for everyone, including women and children, to afford basic necessities. They struggle to access healthy and nutritious food, which are the contributing factors to stunting in NTT. Consumers reduce the quantity and the quality of their nutrition consumption to face a price increase. The decline in people's purchasing power and access to nutritious food has led to inadequate intake. The persistence of these situations in the community worsened stunting problems in children. About 42 percent (2.2 million) of the entire population of NTT are children (UNICEF, n.d.). Stunting is a critical problem faced by children in NTT, which was experienced by a significant number of children, around 42.6 percent in 2018 (Kemenkes RI, 2018). The government of NTT successfully reduced the number of stunting cases to 24.5 percent in 2020 (BPK, 2020). However, the number of stunted children bounced back to 37.9 percent in 2023 due to several events that happened in NTT around the period, including Cyclone Seroja in 2021 and extreme drought in 2023 (Kemenkes RI, 2023). This number surpassed the national prevalence which is 21.6 percent in 2023. These fluctuations showed the impact of climate change due to climate-induced disasters in NTT, such as scarcity of water and food insecurity, which have adversely affected stunting problems in NTT over the past few years. We Need a Resilience Food System Reflecting on the above problems, we need to address climate change's impact on food insecurity that leads to stunting in NTT using the 3A resilience framework that emphasizes an adaptive, absorptive and anticipatory approach to ensure the development of a resilient food system (Stevenson, 2023). The resilient food system aims to provide sufficient, acceptable, and accessible food to face multiple shocks caused by climate change. As for the adaptive and absorptive approach, we recommend that the community plant climate resilience crops that are more resistant and sustainable to drought and other climate conditions. In the context of NTT, various local staples, such as cassava, corn, forest tuber, and sorghum, are available in the traditional market. The government, through local agricultural agencies, can support the approach by providing necessary training, assistance, and crops for the initiative. Ensuring food security throughout the year will significantly reduce stunting cases in children in NTT. The upcoming program of the elected president of Indonesia, which is known as a nutritious free lunch (Program Makan Siang Bergizi Gratis) is an anticipatory approach to combat stunting in children in NTT. It is an effort to amplify coverage of inadequate nutrition intake in children as a direct cause of stunting. Promoting an active collaboration between the community and government, necessary capacity building, resources, and infrastructure should be facilitated to ensure that these approaches can be implemented sustainably in NTT. This support will enable effective and long-lasting solutions, fostering a resilient framework that empowers communities to address the challenges of stunting and food insecurity.
