Adaptation vital for the agriculture, fisheries sectors
ALREADY, THE impacts are being felt.
“Evidence indicates that more frequent and more intense extreme weather events (including droughts, heat and cold waves, heavy storms, and floods); rising sea levels; and increasing irregularities in seasonal rainfall patterns (including flooding) are already having immediate impacts on not only food production, but also food distribution infrastructure, incidence of food emergencies, livelihood assets and human health, in both rural and urban areas,” the FAO document reveals.
“In addition, less immediate impacts are expected to result from gradual changes in mean temperatures and rainfall. These will affect the suitability of land for different types of crops and pasture; the health and productivity of forests; the distribution, productivity and community composition of marine resources; the incidence and vectors of different types of pests and disease; the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of natural habitats; and the availability of good quality water for crop, livestock, and inland fish production,” it added.
“At the same time, arable land is likely to be lost owing to increased aridity (and associated salinity), groundwater depletion and sea level rise. Food systems will be affected by internal and international migration, resource-based conflicts and civil unrest triggered by climate-change,” the FAO said further.
The reality is, the FAO advances, that countries must respond with urgency through climate change adaptation.
Among other things, it recommends general risk management; management of risk specific to ecosystems (marine, coastal water, forest, etc); and research and dissemination of crop varieties and breeds adapted to changing climatic conditions as key to protecting local supplies, assets and livelihoods against the effects of increasing weather variability and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
On avoiding disruptions or declines in global and coal food supplies due to changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, they propose more efficient agricultural water management in general, improved management of cultivated land, and improved livestock management, as well as use of new, more energy-efficient technologies by agro-industries.