Background: Climate change has deleterious effects on food security in the United States (US) including loss of arable land. Low food security means having inconsistent access to quality foods needed for a vigorous life. Low-income communities of color and female-headed households disproportionately suffer from low and very low food security.

Objective: Analyze the impact of climate change on food apartheid and recommend a rights-based approach to help the US meet its obligations.

Methods: Systematic review of the human rights framework which is inclusive of treaties, documents, supplements, declarations, and conventions.

Results: People who are food insecure are the first that climate change affects. In 2017, the rates of low food security for Black (22%), Hispanic (18%), female-headed (30%), and low-income (31%) families with children were higher than the US average (11.8%). Low-income and minority families are apt to live in neighborhoods located in urban heat islands due to the lack of trees and green spaces. Fast-food companies target low-income compared to high-income neighborhoods. Also, climate change affects people whose livelihoods come from agricultural careers, including Black farmers who are subject to discriminatory lending policies for farmland purchases and migrant farm-workers. In the 2012 agricultural census, 1.4% of the nation’s 3.2 million farmers were Black.

Conclusions: Taken collectively, the current US administration’s inaction and complete disregard for climate change will prove to be detrimental to access to food for minority and low-income communities and minority farmers. Recommendations are for stricter enforcement of consequences of human rights violations.