Download Sustainability and Climate Change in the agriculture sector

Sustainability and Climate
Change in Agriculture sector
Ms. Divya Mohan
Associate Fellow
Earth Sceince and Climate Change Division
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Agriculture and Climate Change
• Agriculture contributes to climate change through GHG
emissions
• Burning of fossil fuel
• Methane emission through agricultural practices like inundated
paddy fields
• Nitrous oxide through fertilizers
• Burning of crop residues.
• The livestock sector is another major contributor to production of
GHGs.
• In India a substantial fraction of the GHG emissions are from
agriculture
Climate Change and Agriculture
• Agriculture sector is highly vulnerable to climate change
• Some of the observed and likely impacts include:
• Biophysical impacts:
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Physiological effects on cultivated crops, forests, fish livestock
Changes in the quality and quantity of land, soil and water resources
Increased weed and pest challenge, alien invasive species
Sea temperature rise causing fish to inhabit different ranges
• Socio-economic impacts
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Changes in yields and production
Reduced GDP from agriculture in the long term
Great fluctuations in world market price
Increased number of people at risk of hunger and food security
Migration
Impacts and vulnerabilities in India
• High vulnerability as it is sensitive to climate variability and climate
change
• Various direct and indirect impacts on the sector and dependent
livelihoods
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Distribution of agro-ecological zones
Water availability
Agricultural losses
Shifting of growing zone in higher elevation
• Poorest people are likely to be hardest hit
• Rely heavily on climate-sensitive sectors such as rainfed agriculture and
fisheries.
• Tend to be located geographically in more exposed or marginal areas,
such as flood plains or nutrient-poor soils.
• Less able to respond due to limited human, institutional and financial
capacity and have very limited ability to cope with climate impacts
Future risks
• Future projections indicate :
• Warming in some regions
• Increases in the amount of precipitation likely in high latitudes, while
decreases likely in most subtropical land regions.
• Drought-affected areas will likely increase in extent.
• Hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events are likely to
become more frequent.
• Agricultural production is vulnerable to climate risks, as is food security
• Impacts will vary in intensity at local, regional and global levels
• Uncertainty concerning the extent of impacts, but agricultural
production in the developing countries is projected to be worst affected
• For the major crops (wheat, rice, and maize) in tropical and temperate
regions, climate change without adaptation will negatively impact
production (with variation in crop, region and adaptation scenario)
Sustainability
• Developmental pressures leading to stress on natural resources leading
to their exploitation
• Sustainability is striking a balance between human needs and
environmental concerns
• Maintaining sustainability means providing for the needs of current, as
well as future generations, while conserving natural resources
• Sustainable Agriculture can be defined as an integrated farming system
(with crops, trees, livestock etc.) which is based on locally adapted
agro-diverse cropping patterns and use of local resources (natural
resources and natural processes), based on local knowledge, skills and
innovations.
• Sustainable agricultural systems remain productive over time.
• Climate change pose enormous risks to fresh water availability and
affect the sustainability of agriculture and food security of billions of
people around the world, especially in the developing countries
Agriculture, climate change and sustainability
• Agricultural sector will be under increasing pressures to ensure
continued productivity, while safeguarding environmental quality.
• Sustainability will depend on our ability to maintain the natural
resource base that supports and sustains agriculture, especially in
the developing world.
• Understanding the impacts, vulnerabilities and complex
relationships between climate and agriculture and then efficiently
manage the system and resources
• Large variability in agricultural production is due to the variability
in weather conditions, e.g. Dependence of production on
monsoon
How to achieve sustainability
• Improved land and water management significant in this scenario
of climate change. Need for efficient farming systems
• Planned adaptation important in some regions already facing
slow growth yields
• Use of technology to improve yields for adaptation to climate
change is a major thrust for the Indian agricultural sector.
• Improvement in yield can come through better seed quality,
better land and water conservation practices, farm
mechanisation, access to credit and improved extension services.
• Potential of sustainable agriculture
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Food security
Improvement of rural livelihoods
Reduction in GHG emissions
Creation of resilient systems leading to better adaptation
Implementing Solutions: Mitigation
• Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil
carbon storage;
• Restoration of degraded lands;
• Improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure
management to reduce CH4 emissions;
• Improved nitrogen fertilizer application techniques to reduce
N2O emissions;
• Improved energy efficiency.
Implementing Solutions: Adaptation
Several adaptation measures - behaviour, technology, policy and
practice
• Changing planting dates;
• Planting different varieties or crop species;
• Using sustainable fertilizer and tillage practices (improving soil
drainage, no-till, etc)
• Improved crop residue and weed management;
• More use of water harvesting techniques,
• Better pest and disease control for crops;
• Implementing new or improving existing irrigation systems
• Improved livestock management
• Development of early-warning systems and protection measures
for natural disasters (droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, etc)
Implementing Solutions: Adaptation
Policy options
• Promote agricultural research
• Promote crop and livestock diversification and agrobiodiversity
• Promote adoption of technologies
• Increase efficiency of water infrastructure and water use
• Disperse information on conservation management practices
• Provide agriculture extension services
• Promote investments in agriculture
• Promote investment in better info and forecasts
• Provide food reserves and reduce post harvest losses
Initiatives in India
• National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
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Dryland agriculture
Risk management
Access to information
Use of biotech
Targeting the most vulnerable
• Large fraction of farmers small and marginal who are highly
vulnerable
• Adaptation in agriculture will require not only availability, but also
access of these measures and resources to these farmers
• A number of measures being undertaken for research of
technologies and dissemination through extension services;
government polices
• Communities and the vulnerable groups need to be actively
involved in implementation of solutions
• A new learning paradigm is needed – to learn from farmer
innovators, from traditional knowledge and resources and
disseminating useful practices and resources to others.
Exploring a participatory approach for adaptation
Identification of
adaptation
options
• Consultation with
communities and
district level
officers
• Designing
endogenously
generated
responses
Prioritization of
identified
adaptation
options
• Workshops with
multi stakeholders
• Capturing variation
in priorities within
community
Sensitivity
Analysis and
Evaluation of
adaptation
options
• Analysis to
evaluate potential
implementation
and effectiveness
Mainstreaming solutions in sustainable
development pathway
• Addressing climate change can be considered an integral element
of sustainable development policies.
• Climate change and other sustainable development policies are
often, but not always, synergistic.
• Reducing both loss of natural habitat and deforestation can have
significant biodiversity, soil and water conservation benefits, and
can be implemented in a socially and economically sustainable
manner.
• Making development more sustainable can enhance both
mitigation and adaptive capacity, and reduce emissions and
vulnerability to climate change.
• Synergies between mitigation and adaptation can exist, for
example land management.
Conclusion
• It is essential to develop a portfolio of strategies that includes
adaptation, mitigation, technological development and
research (climate science, impacts, adaptation and mitigation)
to combat climate change
• It is imperative to take a proactive role in planning national
and regional programmes on adaptation to climate variability
and climate change.
• Integration of mitigation and adaptation frameworks into
sustainable development planning is an urgent need,
especially in the developing countries.
For more information:
http://www.teriin.org/projects/eva/
[email protected]