Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17). Whether for climate change or energy security reasons, many countries
have high interest in the production of biofuels. What is not known, however, is how
production of biomass crops at global scales could affect the functioning and quality
of both managed and unmanaged ecosystems. Water demand, competition for land
for food crops, and losses of biodiversity are among the challenges to be dealt with
before recommending the expansion of these crops worldwide.
In this context, the design and implementation of sustainable management prac-
tices will play a key role in the development of effective solutions for climate change.
The challenge will be to harmonize the management of food, fiber, and energy sys-
tems with the unmanagement of natural systems. Increasingly, this will require a
higher degree of interdisciplinary activities to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of
mitigation and adaptation practices to address climate change.
conclusIons
The most recent scientific evidence synthesized by the IPCC in 2007 appears to
confirm that the observed changes in climate occurring during the past century are
due in part to human activities, and that these change will persist or even more likely
increase still further during this century. Because of its global dimension, agricul-
ture has an important role in climate change, not only for the possibility of suffering
its impacts, but also for the need to adapt to or mitigate these changes.
s
u g g e s t i o n s
f o r
s
t u D y
t
o P i C s
Climate change:
•
Review and discuss the nonlinearity of the climate system
and the possibility of “abrupt climate change.”
Impacts:
•
Review and discuss observed and projected changes in agricul-
tural practices as a result of climate change.
Mitigation:
•
Review and discuss the potential of agricultural soils to act as
sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Adaptation:
•
Review and discuss adaptation measures in agriculture (crops,
livestock, soils) in relation to ongoing and future climate change.
note
1. As defined by the IPCC, radiative forcing is the “radiative imbalance (W m
−2
) in the
climate system at the top of the atmosphere caused by the addition of a greenhouse gas
(or other change)” (Le Treut et al., 2007).
RefeRences
Ainsworth, E.A. and S.P. Long. 2005. What have we learned from 15 years of free-air CO
2
enrichment (FACE)? A meta-analytic review of the responses of photosynthesis, canopy
properties and plant production to rising CO
2
.
New Phytologist
165:351-372.
Akita, S. and D.N. Moss. 1973. Photosynthetic responses to CO
2
and light by maize and wheat
leaves adjusted for constant stomatal apertures.
Crop Science
13:234-237.
