Handbook of Climate Change and Agroecosystems

The following sections are included:

• Foreword

• Preface

• About the Editors

• Acknowledgments

• Contents

• Introduction – Climate Change and Agroecosystems: Global and Regional Perspectives

Of the world's land area and soils, only some 25% can be regarded as suitable for agriculture, the remainder having soils that are too dry or too wet, steep, rocky, cold, shallow, acidic, alkaline, or saline to permit the growing of crops. The actual arable land under cultivation (some 12%) is less than half of the potentially cultivable area, with an additional quarter used for grazing livestock (including areas of prairie, savanna, and scrub vegetation) (Hillel, 2008). However, any substantial expansion of cultivation would pose a severe threat to the remaining natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. Hence, to meet the requirements for food security, there is a need to intensify production and to do so sustainably—that is to say, without degrading the resource base of soil, water, and energy. This must be done without changing the climate for the worse, while adapting to its projected changes through the coming decades (Beddington et al., 2011; Hillel, 2009)…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Decision Making Under Uncertainty

• Adaptation Strategies
  • Shift/diversify planting dates
  • Change crop varieties and crops
  • Improved monitoring and control of pests, pathogens, and weeds
  • Water management under scarcity
  • Water management under excess
  • Frost and freeze damage protection

• Adaptations Beyond the Farm Gate

• Adaptation Capacity

• Mitigation Strategies

• Conservation Agriculture for Mitigation, Adaptation, and Sustainable Development

• Research Priorities to Advance Agronomic Solutions to Climate Change

• Expected Outcomes with Investments

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Framework for Climate Assessment

• Impacts

• Climate Change Effects on Product Quality

• Adaptation Strategies

• Mitigation Strategies

• Challenges

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Adaptation and Decision-Making: Uncertainties and Conflict of Scales

• Climate Change Information for Adaptation — Shortcomings of Common Practice
  • Accuracy and uncertainty of the global climate models
  • Spatial resolution
  • Temporal downscaling

• Climate Information for Adaptation — Promising Approaches

• Information on Climate Variability and Change for Assisting Adaptation

• Discussion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The Role of Europe
  • Sustainable food security under climate change
  • Environmentally sustainable growth and intensification of agriculture under current and future climate and resource availability
  • Assessing and reducing tradeoffs: food production, biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Adaptation to climate change
  • Greenhouse gas mitigation

• The Role of Agronomy

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Africa's Contribution to Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) Emissions

• Projected Climate Change in Africa

• Projected Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in Africa

• Adaptation and Mitigation Potential
  • Addressing current challenges to agriculture
    • Soil and nutrient management in cropland
    • Water harvesting and irrigation
  • Breeding for adaptation to climate change and variability
    • Breeding for enhanced tolerance to drought and heat
    • Integrated genetic and natural resource management
    • Systems diversification
    • Preservation of genetic resources
  • Mitigation through soil carbon sequestration
    • Conservation tillage and crop residue management
    • Cover crops and improved fallows
    • Improving management of grasslands and pastures
    • Restoration of degraded lands
    • Land cover/use change
  • Reducing emissions from livestock production
  • Institutional and policy reforms
    • Mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation into national and regional development
    • Strengthen early warning systems
    • Enhancing the capacity of extension services
    • Institutions to support financing and insurance
    • Strengthening institutions at the grassroots
    • Payment for environmental services

• Conclusion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture

• Adaptations to Climate Change
  • Incremental adaptation
  • Transformational adaptation

• Mitigation Potential
  • N₂O from soils
  • Soil carbon
  • Methane from livestock

• Challenges in Adaptation and Mitigation

• Conclusions

• Acknowledgments

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Current Conditions of Food Security and Agricultural Production Systems
  • Water scarcity and its use in agriculture
  • Agricultural production systems
  • Impacts on agriculture

• Adaptation to Climate Change

• Conclusions

• References

The following sections are included:

• Overview of Israeli Climate and Agriculture
  • National priorities, infrastructure and food security

• Perturbations and Resilience in Response to Change
  • Resilience and adaptation—the case of the transition to effluent irrigation

• Agriculture's Contribution to Climate Change: Evidence from Israel
  • Effects of land use changes
  • Effects of intensive production systems

• Observed Climate Change in Israel
  • Temperature
  • Humidity and wind speed
  • Solar radiation
  • Evaporation and evapo-transpiration
  • Rainfall

• Future Climate Projections

• Climate Risks to Semi-Arid Soil Conservation
  • Soil hydraulic properties, surface runoff and soil erosion
  • Short term effects of decreasing rainfall with increased rainfall intensity
  • Indirect and long term effects of irrigation with poor quality water

• Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Sequestration
  • Forests

• Expected Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Forestry

• Conclusions

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Climate Change in Recent Decades
  • Study area and methods
  • Climate change between 1960s and 2000s
  • Crop potential productivity between the 1960s and 2000s

• Crop Productivity Under Future Scenarios
  • Rice productivity
  • Wheat productivity

• Agricultural Responses Affecting Mitigation and Adaptation
  • Adjustment of cropping systems
  • Adjustment of sowing date
  • Breeding new crop varieties

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in South Asia

• Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change
  • Augmenting production
  • Developing climate-ready crops
  • Changes in land-use management
  • Resource conservation and use efficiency
  • Harnessing the local technical knowledge of farmers
  • Improved risk management though early warning system and crop insurance
  • Enabling institutional and policy support

• Conclusion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Elevated CO₂ in the Soil

• Elevated CO₂ in the Atmosphere above the Soil

• Elevated CO₂ and Stomata

• Evapotranspiration

• Water use Efficiency

• Final Comment

• Summary

• Acknowledgments

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

• Contiributions of WMO Programmes in Addressing Climate Change and Agriculture
  • Agricultural meteorology programme
  • Global Atmosphere Watch Programme
    • Agriculture and greenhouse gases
    • Land-use change
    • Agriculture, desertification, and mineral dust
    • Agriculture and air pollution
  • World Climate Research Programme
    • Coordinated regional climate downscaling experiment (CORDEX)
    • Major Scientific Challenges and Opportunities
  • Global Observing System Programme
    • WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS)
    • New observing capabilities and impacts

• Conclusions

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• AgMIP Structure and Scientific Approach

• AgMIP Regional Activities

• AgMIP Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Projects
  • Climate change impacts on West African Agriculture (CIWARA) — A regional assessment
  • Impacts of climate variability and change on agricultural systems in Eastern Africa while enhancing the region's capacity to undertake integrated assessment of vulnerabilities to future changes in climate
  • Southern Africa Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (SAAMIIP)
  • Crop-livestock intensification in the face of climate change: Exploring opportunities to reduce risk and increase resilience in Southern Africa using an integrated multi-modeling approach
  • Knowledge enhancement for modeling in climate change: Capacity-building in Southern, Western, and Eastern Africa

• AgMIP South Asia Regional Projects
  • Assessing climatic vulnerability and projecting crop productivity using integrated crop and economic modeling techniques
  • Strengthening simulation approaches for understanding, projecting, and managing climate risks in stress-prone environments across the central and Eastern Indo-Gangetic Basin
  • Integrated assessment of climate change impacts on principal crops and farm household incomes in Southern India
  • Modeling the impacts of a variable and changing climate on rice and sugarcane agricultural systems in Sri Lanka
  • Enhancing capacities of the AgMIP South Asia regional teams through capacity-building workshops and knowledge-sharing platforms

• Conclusions

• Acknowledgments

• Reference

The following sections are included:

• Agriculture — Climate Connections

• Regional Responses
  • North America
  • Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Australia and New Zealand
  • Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
  • Israel
  • China
  • South Asia

• Research Priorities to Advance Agronomic Solutions to Climate Change

• References

The following sections are included:

• Index