Synthesis, Knowledge Gaps, and Future Research Agenda: Integrating Evidence Across Disciplines and Charting Pathways to Sustainable Food Futures under Climate Change
Megna Rashid Bakshi *
Division of Silviculture and Agroforestry, Faculty of Forestry, SKUAST-K, Benhama, Gaderbal -121201 (J&K), India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Climate change represents one of the most consequential threats to global food security, demanding an integrated, cross-disciplinary scientific response. This review synthesises the growing body of evidence linking climatic shifts—including rising temperatures, altered precipitation regimes, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and extreme weather events—with disruptions across agricultural productivity, food supply chains, nutritional quality, and human health outcomes. The literature for this review was identified through systematic searches of the following academic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Searches were conducted in January 2025 and covered publications from January 2000 to December 2024, with additional targeted searches extending into early 2025 to capture the most recent outputs. Drawing on scholarship from agronomy, ecology, economics, public health, hydrology, and social sciences, the paper identifies persistent knowledge gaps that constrain evidence-based policymaking and charts a future research agenda oriented towards sustainable food systems. Key areas examined include the heterogeneous impacts of warming on crop physiology and yield trajectories, the underexplored role of soil microbiomes under climatic stress, the nexus between climate-induced migration and food access, the capacity limitations of smallholder farmers in adapting to novel agroclimatic conditions, and the promise—and peril—of technological interventions such as precision agriculture and climate-resilient crop varieties. The review further underscores the systemic underrepresentation of data from the Global South in prevailing climate–food models, constraining their predictive validity for the populations most vulnerable to food insecurity. By mapping disciplinary siloes alongside emergent integrative frameworks, this paper advances the case for transdisciplinary research infrastructures, long-term ecological observatories, and inclusive governance architectures as foundational pillars of sustainable food futures.
Keywords: Climate change, food security, sustainable agriculture, knowledge gaps, transdisciplinary research, crop yield, adaptation, Global South, food systems