Climate change,a fundamental threat to global food security, sustainable development. Module 1

Purpose: This module aims to

•      To enhance knowledge on climate change concepts and its potential impacts
  

•      To give an understanding of the concept of CSA
  

•      To enable readers make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect the world's food security
  

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy. In addition to providinghumans with much of their food, crops, livestock, and fisheries make significant contributions to the national economy and GDP of a country. It remains the main source of livelihood for most rural communities.

It is the source of raw materials used in the processing industries as well as a source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. The sustainability of the environment to provide all life support systems and the materials for fulfilling all developmental aspirations of man and animal is dependent on the suitability of the climate which is undergoing constant changes.

Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes, both of which take place on a global scale. Climate change affects agriculture and agriculture also affects climate change. Past climate can no longer guide any agricultural investment design.

Agriculture contributes to climate change by
(1) anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and
(2) by the conversion of non-agricultural land (e.g., forests) into agricultural land.

Agriculture, forestry and land-use change is reported to have contributed around 20 to 25% of global annual emissions in 2010.

The climate has always been changing naturally, the current impact of human activities is causing the climate to change in an unnatural way and at a faster pace than ever before. This unnatural and human induced climate change is problematic as it is causing shifts in the normal climatic conditions such as rainfall and temperature, which in turn is placing pressure on the planet s natural environment and having negative impacts on the planet s people.

Climate change is happening because humans are releasing and thus increasing the amount of heat-trapping gases in the earth s atmosphere called greenhouse gases . Greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere and are important as they make the earth s temperature warm enough for life to exist. Without these heat trapping gases the planet would be far too cold making it uninhabitable. However, as humans increase the amount of these gases in our atmosphere, more and more heat is trapped which in turn is causing the climate to change.In particular climate change is having a significant impact on agriculture,

Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways, including through changes in average temperatures, rainfall, and climate extremes (e.g., heat waves); changes in pests and diseases; changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone concentrations; changes in the nutritional quality of some foods; and changes in sea leve.

Agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on specific climate conditions. Trying to understand the overall effect of climate change on the nation s food supply can be difficult. Moderate increases in temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be beneficial for some crops in some places. But to realize these benefits, nutrient levels, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions must also be met.

However, more severe warming, floods, and drought may reduce yields.Changes in the frequency and severity of droughts and floods could pose challenges for farmers and cattle rearers. Livestock may be at risk, both directly from heat stress and indirectly from reduced quality of their food supply

Fisheries will be affected by changes in water temperature that shift species ranges, make waters more hospitable to invasive species, and change lifecycle timing, which could disrupt ecosystems. Overall, climate change could make it more difficult to grow crops, raise animals, and catch fish in the same ways and same places as people have done in the past. The effects of climate change also need to be considered along with other evolving factors that affect agricultural production, such as changes in farming practices and technology.

Since agriculture in most countries is mostly rain-fed and small-scale, food crop production in most developing regions of the world is heavily dependent on timing and length of the rainy season.It follows therefore that any change in climate is bound to impact its productivity in particular and other socio-economic activities in the world. This subjects the regions to a pronounced seasonality with four to six months of rainy season, in which most of the rain-fed food crop production takes place, and six to eight months of dry season with no opportunities for non-irrigated food production.

Food production among small-scale farmers is, therefore, very dependent on the reliability of the onset of rains and the distribution of rainfall during the rainy season. Rain-fed agriculture is one of the most vulnerable livelihood and economic sectors to climate change in these regions.

The impact could, however, be measured in terms of effects on crop growth, availability of soil water, soil erosion, incident of pest and diseases, sea level rises and decrease in soil fertility. Direct effects of climate variables such as air, temperature, humidity, wind speed and other climate factors influence animal performance such as growth, milk production, wool production and reproduction.

Climate can also affect the quantity and quality of feed stuffs such as pasture, forage, and grain and also the severity and distribution of livestock diseases and parasite. Climate change is therefore a fundamental threat to global food security, sustainable development.