Coping with a changing climate: considerations for adaption and mitigation in agriculture
Environment and natural resources management series, 15:
This book presents some fundamental issues, challenges and concepts in order to improve policy-makers understandings of and preparations for coping with both the causes and the impacts of climate change on food security. The book elaborates on the critical considerations including basic ecological principles, assessment of impacts, vulnerabilities, invisible boundaries and suggestions for short-term and long-term policy options, as well as policy-driven strategic thinking for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.
The first two chapters of the book present historical evidence of relationship between climate and food security, as well as current challenges of world food security posed by climate change. Chapter 3 on “Adaptation and mitigation” introduces the “four laws of ecology” and presents their continuing relevance to policy-makers when they identify, develop and implement adaptation and mitigation strategies. Chapter 4 on “What to do at the national level” elaborates the fact that climate impacts and response mechanisms in the near term future are likely to be similar to those of the recent past, barring any abrupt changes in the atmosphere’s local and global climatic characteristics.
Chapter 5 on “Short-term and long-term policy options” focuses on decision making under uncertainties; improved ways of identifying most at-risk communities and coping with current climate variability and extremes; and improved ways of integrating present-day tactical and “best practice” responses with the longer-term strategic needs. The conclusion has key take-home messages from the FAO high level conference on “World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy” are presented along with closing thoughts about having “no adaptation recommendations without ramifications” as well as suggestions for policy-driven strategic thinking about adaptation to and mitigation of climate change with a focus on improved food security.