Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 84

prevalent in warmer and more humid regions
may become even more widespread.
Tropical regions may also be more vulnerable
to climate change because of economic and social
constraints. Greater economic and individual
dependence on agriculture, widespread poverty,
inadequate technologies, and lack of political
power are likely to exacerbate the impacts of cli-
mate change in tropical regions.
In the light of possible global warming, plant
breeders should probably place even more
emphasis on the development of heat- and
drought-resistant crops. Research is needed to
defi ne the current limits to these resistances and
the feasibility of manipulation through modern
genetic techniques. Both crop architecture and
physiology may be genetically altered to adapt to
warmer environmental conditions. In some
regions, it may be appropriate to take a second
look at traditional technologies and crops as ways
of coping with climate change.
At the regional level, those charged with plan-
ning for resource allocation, including land,
water, and agriculture development, should take
climate change into account. In coastal areas,
agricultural land may be fl ooded or salinized; in
continental interiors and other locations, droughts
may increase. These eventualities can be dealt
with more easily if anticipated.
As climatic factors change, a host of conse-
quences will ripple through the agricultural
system, as human decisions involving farm
management, grain storage facilities, transporta-
tion infrastructure, regional markets, and trade
patterns respond. For example, fi eld-level changes
in thermal regimes, water conditions, pest infesta-
tions, and, most importantly, quantity and quality
of yields may lead to changes in farm manage-
ment decisions based on altered risk assessments.
Consequences of these management decisions
could result in local and regional alterations in
farming systems, land use, and food availability.
Ultimately, impacts of climate change on agricul-
ture may reverberate throughout the international
food economy and global society.
At the national and international levels, the
needs of regions and people vulnerable to the
effects of climate change on their food supply

should be addressed. In many cases, reducing
vulnerability to current climate variability should
also serve to mitigate the impacts of global
warming.
It is important to ask, “What will or should
agriculture be like in the next century?” Even if
the answer is unknown, the fl exibility gained in
attempting to imagine the agricultural future
should be a useful tool for adaptation to climate
change.

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