Book Review - Climate Change and Agriculture: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation - 2010

ISBN 978-92-64-08686-9

In this 2010 publication the OECD looks at recent developments in the international literature on impacts, adaptation and mitigation of climate change on agriculture. It proposes how policy can be put in place to address the new challenges that agriculture faces from climate change.

The impact of climate change comes about through changes in seasonality, variability and changes in mean precipitation and water availability. These mechanisms will alter with higher temperatures and have more impact. The effects on agriculture will depend on the interactions between these mechanisms.

The effects of climate change is still uncertain, and in this publication the uncertainties are looked at and evaluated, however, because of this uncertainty it becomes impossible to predict what the future effects are but decisions will need to be made despite the continuing uncertainties.

The adaptation within agriculture where climate change threatens will need to look at two major strategies: the first being to reduce the rate of manmade greenhouse gases through mitigation; the second option is to promote adaptation to climate change to take advantage of new opportunities and minimize impact.

Adaptation to climate change is shown as an adjustment in social, ecological or economic systems in response to predicted climate change.
It is widely recognised that agriculture is a major source of global greenhouse emissions estimated at 5.1 to 6.1 GtCO2-eq/yr. Globally CH4 and N2O emissions from agriculture has increased by nearly 17 percent from 1990 to 2005.

Concern has increased about the magnitude of these emissions and the need to distribute mitigation between developing and developed countries. Governments across the OECD member area are investing in and developing efficient mitigation strategies, the EU flagship instrument known, as ETS is to regulate industrial emissions.

However, agricultural emissions are not included in the ETS system, this has stimulated research into efficient and effective mitigation options in agriculture. This publication, by OECD, is a guide to help policy makers in the design of policies to deal with climate change issues in agriculture.

Climate change will have an effect on agriculture and farmers will have to adapt to these changes that will arise with the new policies and with a better understanding of the impact of climate change.

We believe that this OECD publication will be a valuable asset to anyone in the agriculture industry and the policy makers in governments who have a growing interest in climate change - and not just those in OECD member countries.