Vulnerability of Agriculture, Water and Fisheries to Climate Change

Managing climate risks can be done via two main strategies: mitigation and adaptation. Yet many studies and practices are increasingly confirming the complementarity of the two strategies. Although available research on mitigation and adaptation synergies remains dispersed and incomplete, examples that demonstrate promising potential for synergies have been identified. Within this perspective, this chapter aims to highlight some important questions that have to be answered in order to foster synergies between mitigation and adaptation approaches with positive implications in terms of sustainability. Researchers in the fields of chemical ecology of crop productivity and environmental management, with special reference to industrial ecology twinning mitigation and adaptation goals, aligned with policy and plan interventions, will gain insights into the unfinished agenda in this regard. Such important facets of integrated management, including peace with implications for quality of life determined by sustained access to information and capacity building on alternatives that are locally relevant, are also discussed.

This paper aims at presenting a comprehensive review of mitigation and adaptation efforts being made to cope with climate change impact in the Arab region. The review was completed through consulting already published literature (such as official reports, books, scientific papers, conference proceedings, flyers, pamphlets, newspapers, newsletters, and websites). In addition to these, efforts made by Dubai-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture – to which the key author belongs – will also be shared. The focus is being made on the Arab region with some examples from around the world. It is revealed that climate change (CC) is old phenomenon and the most discussed topic of the present time, and the management of this challenge extends the individual capacity of concerned countries. The CC is impacting all continents, but significantly the water-scarce developing countries, including the Arab region where the major concern is linked to the increase in temperature and rainfall decline leading to increase in evapotranspiration and changes in water cycle depleting the groundwater resources respectively, crucial for both farming and survival of nature, living beings and biodiversity, and in combating desertification. It is envisaged that effective mitigation and adaptation actions, as well as communication of related achievements, can pave the way to slow CC impacts. However, there are pragmatic views expressed by scientists and businesses regarding mitigation and adaptation efforts like the shift to alternate energy sources, biofuels, organic farming, change in land use, deforestation, using set aside or marginal lands, no till or low till farming, chemical fertilizers and leguminous crops, livestock management, rangelands, food security, etc. Each component has its own pros and cons under a set of environmental and geographical conditions. It is believed that adaptation practices can’t be generalized to all vulnerable countries; hence the relevance of such adaptation practices to vulnerable country resources and needs must be carefully out looked and understood prior to enacting any adaptation action. It is also assumed that “business as usual” will increase GHG, whereas, adherence to global climate action (such as Kyoto Protocol and all related subsequent decisions) will reduce emission of GHG. It is clear that water scarcity – and not only land – will be a limiting factor to increase agriculture production, an issue that will be exacerbated in the Arab region by the predicted trends of climate change. It is visualized that limited efforts are made and implemented in the Arab region to meet climate change challenges, especially with regard to agriculture and biodiversity. Scientifically-determined climate patterns record barely exists while economic considerations are merely ignored.

The present chapter shares insights on micro level planning; essential to optimize top-down and bottom-up approaches. The chapter accordingly reveals some of the predominant strands that have to be supported through locally adapted multipronged strategies including institutional mechanisms that foster public leadership to sustain action. Interesting lessons from some multipronged strategies, including farmers outreach on soil health, water quality and productivity management, nutrient management, local knowledge and preparedness to support conservation through an applied biodiversity perspective and integrated river basin management interventions, are presented from an Indian perspective. These insights will be useful for countries with comparable circumstances of growth and externalities that determine development priorities.

“Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth.” — Li Zhaoxing, Ambassador, China. “The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.” — Cicero. These two quotes encapsulate the challenge of educating farmers about issues relating to climate change and adapting to farming in drying conditions. As a society we need farmers to provide the sustenance for the increasing global human population while at the same time taking on the role of an environmental steward to the land that they farm. These are tasks that need to be done within an economic framework that ensures that food is and remains affordable and in many regions, a climate that has become increasingly dry. After more than a century of progressively industrializing agriculture, particularly in developed nations, thereby making the practice of farming less labor intensive through the use of increased technology, many farmers are now faced with the challenge of adapting farming practices to drier climatic conditions. This is particularly the case with broad acre cropping and mixed farmers across the grain growing regions of eastern Australia. This case study research identifies how farmers choose to obtain information about climate change and which sources they find most trustworthy. It also identifies that a belief in human induced climate change may not be critical in getting farmers to adapt their farming practices.

This chapter analyzes the economic impact of climate change on agriculture for the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of climate change on net revenue of paddy crop and 14 other major crops in the 20 districts of the state. The Ricardian approach was used to analyze the effects of climate variables on the net income from the crop. Panel datasets on climatic, agronomic and socio-economic variables were used for this analysis. The results showed that there is significant nonlinear impact of temperature and rainfall on yield over the years on the net income from rice and other crops. On an average in rice; 1 °C rise in temperature will reduce the net income by109 INR (2.42US$) per hectare in these districts and the impact of precipitation are not substantial. Among the analyzed districts, Anantapur face the maximum brunt of the impact of climate change. In case of other crops, there are varied impacts of different climatic variable on net revenue with some district gaining initially and negatively impacting later. As expected, rainfall had positive marginal impacts, however it is very negligible. The socio-economic variable i.e. amount of irrigated area, literacy rate of rural population also showed significant positive effects on the income.

Characterizing vulnerable regions is a prerequisite in the priority setting for climate change research and allocating resources for the targeted stakeholders such as farmers, researchers, development practitioners and policy makers. In this context, vulnerability profiles are developed at district level for the varied agro-socio-economic environment of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The districts were indexed, based on the set of indicators representing the three components of climate change vulnerability i.e. exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The standard and widely accepted IPCC approach was used for the indexing purpose. Results indicated that the majority of the districts of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are vulnerable to climate change. Over the years the analyzed districts experienced a varying level of vulnerability to climate change, with some districts improved and while others slipping into more vulnerable category. This dynamicity existed among the components of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity is reflected in the vulnerability status of the districts. This exercise is a guiding tool for formulating action plans and is way forward in improving adaptive capacity among the rural population.

Saudi Arabia is a country consisting largely of desert terrain, with limited naturally occurring ground water and is subject to extremes of temperature typical of an arid climate. The country is scarcely ideal for agricultural development. However, recognizing the importance of food security, the kingdom initiated several programs to advance facilities, services and farm inputs, including water, for the farming communities to increase food production and feed more of its citizens. With less than favorable circumstances, the kingdom successfully attained self-sufficiency in wheat, dates, eggs, fresh milk, and some vegetables. Although its share of the GDP is quite low, the kingdom’s fertile regions make agriculture and agri-business the third largest sector in GDP revenues. The agriculture sector has also helped improve the livelihoods of rural population. Yet, producing crops with the heavy application of irrigation from the limited and meager water resources posed serious threats to the sustainability of natural resources of the kingdom. The situation required major changes in the present farming practices and the adoption of sustainable agriculture concepts and practices in the Saudi Arabia. Increasingly, it has become important to educate the farming community to use the natural resources, including water, with sustainable mindfulness. This article presents the current scenario of the agricultural sector, the potential of sustainable agriculture, and the possible role of extension and education in converting agricultural production to sustainable practices in the kingdom. The purpose of this article is to establish the importance of agricultural extension in developing the relationship between sustainable agriculture and rural development initiatives.

This paper measures the potential economic impact of climate change on durum wheat in Tunisia using the Ricardian approach. A model using panel data was estimated for the period 1990–2010 over the main cultivation regions. Gross margin of the durum wheat under rainfed conditions was used as the dependent variable while the explanatory variables were mainly related to climate such as precipitation and temperature, technological progress, and type of soil. Empirical findings show that precipitations during different stages of the growing season affect positively net-income. In addition, the interactions variables between temperature and precipitation in different growth stages are negative. The assessment impact of technology shows a positive coefficient of trend parameter but not statistically significant. Finally, the soil quality index parameter is positively correlated with the net revenue per hectare. This finding indicates that good quality of soil may improve the net income of farmers by increasing wheat yields. Climate change impact was simulated using scenarios from the HadCM3 global circulation. Empirical results indicate that economic impacts are not uniformly distributed across the different regions of Tunisia. These impacts are likely to be more accentuated in the arid regions. A rise in temperature and a reduction in rainfall would cause reductions in gross margin by 4 % in sub-humid areas and 24 % in arid zones. The results further suggest the necessity for wider diffusion of drought-tolerant varieties among farmers and the identification of new agricultural practices as advisable adaptation strategies in order to alleviate the effects of climate change on farmer’s income.

Dairy sheep farming is an important agricultural activity in the Mediterranean region. In Greece, sheep farming offers employment and income to thousands of families. On the other hand, ruminant livestock farming has been identified as a considerable source of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). In this analysis, multiple objectives of policy makers are incorporated into a decision making model that yields a number of alternative mitigation strategies, for Greek dairy sheep farming. Each policy alternative achieves the environmental and socio-economic objectives at certain levels. The policy maker can then select the preferred alternative. The model utilizes detailed farm level data, which increases the accuracy of the results. The analysis is undertaken on two different farming systems identified in Continental Greece and indicates that there is a considerable degree of conflict among the GHGs minimization objective and the gross margin and labor maximization objectives. The results also indicate that the mitigation options for sheep farming involve the reduction or/and the intensification of the activity and also changes in the production orientation and feeding practices. The model, can, therefore, be a useful tool for policy makers, since it allows them to design appropriate measures, according to the mitigation option that best meets their preferences.

An integrated modeling framework – IMPACT – which integrates partial equilibrium economic model, hydrology model, crop simulation model and climate model was used to examine the ex-ante economic impact of developing and disseminating a drought tolerant sorghum cultivar in target countries of Africa and Asia. The impact of drought tolerant sorghum technology on production, consumption, trade flow and prices of sorghum in target and non-target countries were analyzed. And also we estimated the returns to research investment for developing the promising new drought tolerant cultivars and dissemination in the target countries. The analysis indicates that the economic benefits of drought tolerant sorghum cultivar adoption in the target countries outweighs the cost of developing this new technology. The development and release of this new technology in the target countries of Asia and Africa would provide a net economic benefit of about 1,476.8 million US$ for the entire world under no climate change condition. Under climate change scenarios the net benefits derived from adoption of new drought tolerant sorghum cultivar is higher than the no climate change condition. This is due to higher production realized by sorghum under climate change scenarios. The results imply that substantial economic benefits can be achieved from the development of a drought tolerant sorghum cultivar. And also this technology will perform better than the existing cultivars in future climate change condition.

This work outlines the methodology followed in the study of climate change impact on water resources in North Algeria and presents the results on the vulnerability of the water resources. It focuses on research efforts of old data and homogenization of long series of climate data since 1926 at stations in the watersheds of North Algeria. We were able to establish a database homogenized precipitation and temperatures. Recent trends show mixed but generally increasing, except in the south basin that reflects a sharpening of the drought. We then conducted a study of impact of climate change on the hydrological behavior of watersheds. Of all the simulation models used in the world, only two global models UKHI-EQ and ECHAM3TR give an acceptable results. Throughout this paper, it clear that uncertainty surrounds our understanding of future climate change and its impacts.

Water deficiency is one of the factors limiting the efficiency wheat growing all over the world. In the context of global climate changes, a question of the tolerance to drought has become more important in regions where this aspect was never taken into account before in the breeding process. Our paper presents a comparison of various wheat landraces (einkorn, emmer, spelt) and bread wheat varieties. It is based on the results of δ¹³C, chlorophyll content and quantity of stomata. The research was carried out in a greenhouse in different soil humidity (10 and 20 %). The results of our research have shown a relation between low values of δ¹³C, high proportion of chlorophyll and low quantity of pores (the predisposition to the tolerance to drought). In general, einkorn varieties, emmer and spelt wheat varieties have been the most predisposed to the tolerance to drought. On the other hand, intermediate wheat forms and modern bread wheat varieties have been supposed to be less tolerant to drought. The emmer wheat variety Rudico has become the most prospective variety of all (δ¹³C = −26.93 ‰; proportion of chlorophyll = 1.55 mg/dm; quantity of pores = 21.67 per square mm).

It is believed that Climate change is no longer an issue but an undisputable reality for the distant future. Climate change is already taking place, and its impacts are being felt particularly in South Asian countries, mostly affecting the poorest people. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable because their economies are closely linked to agriculture, and a large proportion of their populations depend directly on agriculture and natural ecosystems for their livelihoods. Thus, climate change has the potential to act as a ‘risk multiplier’ in some of the poorest parts of the world, where agricultural and other natural resource-based systems are already failing to keep pace with the demands on them. The availability of and access to freshwater is an important determinant of patterns of economic growth and social development. This is particularly the case in Africa where most people live in rural areas and are still heavily dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. It is, therefore, essential for sustaining all forms of life, food production, economic development, and for general well being. It is impossible to substitute for most of its uses, difficult to de-pollute, expensive to transport, and it is truly a unique gift to mankind from nature. The prevailing water crisis demands an adequate and appropriate water resources management. It is time to abandon the obsolete divide between irrigated and rainfed agriculture. In the new policy approach rainfall will be acknowledged as the key freshwater resource, and all water resources, green and blue, will be explored for livelihood options at the appropriate scale for local communities. Therefore, water conservation/harvesting would be the most appropriate option to utilize the rainwater for optimum productivity. The paper emphasizes present scenario of water resources, water crisis and the immediate need for the adoption of water harvesting through appropriate soil and water conservation techniques to face the challenges posed by climate change on agricultural production systems.

Climate change (CC) is a reality! It is a great threat to fisheries production especially in Africa that is characterized with normal climate variability phenomenon. Capture fisheries both in marine and freshwater are greatly impacted, resulting in real negative consequences on fish and fish products availability, and the livelihood of fisheries dependent individuals and communities. Some basic problems faced are genetic erosion especially on the endemic species that have adaptive features under negative effect of CC; decline in capture fisheries due to CC variability with other anthropogenic activities; and nutrition insecurity due to malnutrition or under-nutrition. The primary concern is how to mitigate the effects of CC on the decline of capture fisheries through sustainable fisheries and aquaculture production; genetic erosion through breed conservation; provision of sustainable food fish security to solve food fish demand that outstrips fish supply of ever-increasing human population. However, development of technology to improve fish health, to help restore and protect environments, to extend the range of aquatic species and to improve management and conservation of wild stock will be of great benefit to achieve fish and fish products security. Technology strategies such as animal genetic conservation, selective breeding, hybridization, tissue culture and genetic manipulation have been recently employed in developed economies as panacea to myriads of agri-food insecurity. This paper presents biotechnology approaches as toolkit to alleviate the menace of CC and increase fish and fish products for sustainable production, malnutrition solution and enhance the livelihood of fisheries dependent individuals or communities.

The possible effects of climate change on Chilean marine ecosystems are considered. Relationships between the abundance of exploited species, fishing effort and environmental variables are elucidated, and conceptual models for an ecosystemic management of fisheries are proposed. A projection for anchovy fisheries in northern Chile is carried out, considering four different temporal climatic change scenarios until 2100. Finally, indications on the necessity to evaluate the spatio-temporal fisheries performance, given the climate change scenario, are suggested.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are created to manage people’s behavior in their use of coastal and marine resources. Although MPAs have strived to deliver the objects of resource protection, they often face challenges in translating the accrued benefits into enhanced livelihoods of local communities in and around their areas of jurisdiction. We used Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP) in Tanzania to appraise the scenario of pro-poor conservation. The purpose of comparison between park and non-park villages was done to verify the hypothesis that establishment and operations of MPAs impairs local socio-economic practices without robust provision of alternative livelihood safety nets. Agriculture remains a persistent livelihood occupation both in park and non-park villages. Artisanal fishing is a substantial livelihood occupation in seafront villages but a secondary activity in overall. Income and expenditure patterns indicated that non-park villages are better-off with significantly high income to expenditure ratios. Fishing make the most contribution to income in sea front villages as agriculture is doing in non-fishing villages. Impacts on livelihoods emanate from disrupted resource use patterns which significantly influence the communities’ perception on need, role and overall acceptance of the marine park. Traditional access and user rights are marred by MPA operations putting at stake livelihood security of the communities therein. Alternative strategies have not yet been given due thrust and local communities remain insecure in accessing political assets such as cooperatives, community credit schemes and financial assets such as government and/or commercial banking sponsored schemes and loans. Local communities are already carrying the costs of denied access to livelihood sources, but the marine park is not quick enough to translate the accrued value and benefit of the improved resource base in enhancing local communities’ livelihood and welfare. Reducing pressure on marine resources through sound management interventions will have to be accompanied by mitigating measures to safeguard household food security, such as compensation, and developing alternative sources of income. There is still considerable polarization between conservation and socio-economic welfare of the people. MPAs should focus on combining resource management with livelihood opportunities that provide economic benefits in the short-run to address economic disruptions emanating from disrupted access to the once common resources.

Seaweed farming has been done by fishermen for many years and contributing to the local economy. This paper aims to analyze the sustainable coastal livelihoods in a coastal community in Indonesia. It is noteworthy that some alternative livelihoods are important ways to raise local economy, which are affected by decreased production of capture fisheries. This paper would also assess the roles of marine culture in the local economy of coastal villages, to investigate challenges and opportunities of coastal livelihoods, and to analyze fishers’ perception and stakeholder participation in developing alternative livelihoods. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires as qualitative approach, and interviews were conducted with 200 fishermen in Takalar and Jeneponto Districts, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Secondary data included a series of reports and other statistical data. SWOT analyses were used to assess the problems and opportunities of coastal livelihoods development. The finding showed that there are two livelihood activities namely seaweed farming (Eucheuma cottonii) and fishing activity, where in seaweed farming having bigger contributions to household income. Culture of seaweed has given a positive impact to local economic condition of coastal villages in South Sulawesi in the form of increased household income of fishermen. However, changes in monsoon periods, environmental awareness of fishermen and post-harvest technology are major constraints in developing seaweed farming. Finally, fishermen’s livelihood are transformed from the fishing activity to seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii) as main income source.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture production serve as means of achieving nutritional security and sources of employment for large number of people in the world. Fisheries play an important role in enhancing foreign earnings and solving malnutrition problems. However the state of global food fish insecurity due to continuous decline in capture fisheries needs serious attention. This is as a result of variability in climate, anthropogenic pressures, ecosystem degradation and increasing demand for fish and its products by increasing human population. Developments of biotechnology strategy such as genetic manipulations in fisheries management have been recently employed in developed economies to increase fish production. In this study, monosex larvae of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) were produced using biotechnology techniques such as androgenesis and gynogenesis where catfish gametes were treated with UV irradiation at 30,000 μWcm⁻² for 15 min. The fertilized treatment were then subjected to cold shock at 2 °C for 20 min. Eggs numbering 100 ± 10 each quadruplicates were induced for gynogenesis through activation with UV irradiated sperm and then cold shock. For androgenesis, irradiated eggs were fertilized with normal sperm followed by cold shock. For the control experiments, 100 ± 10 normal eggs in quadruplicates were fertilized with irradiated sperm to produce haploid embryos and normal milt to produce normal diploid embryos. Fertility, hatchability, and survival were monitored and recorded. Androgeneic, gynogeneic, haploid and normal diploid treatments gave fertility of 80 %, 72.5 %, 100 % and 100 % with standard error of mean (SEM) of 3.19 respectively. Hatchability (number of hatched embryos) was 5.5 %, 22 %, 15 % and 93 % with SEM of 9.05 for androgeneic, gynogeneic, haploid and normal diploid embryos. No survived larvae was recorded at yolk absorption for the haploid group while survival after 1 week for androgeneic, gynogeneic and normal diploid embryos gave 5 %, 13.25 % and 91 % (SEM = 9.65) respectively. Ploidy levels of the embryos were determined in 1-day old post-hatched embryos following modified protocol of Don J, Avtalion RR (Theor Appl Genet 72:186–192, 1986). The mean chromosome number (n) of 28 was obtained for haploid and 56 for normal diploid, androgeneic and gynogeneic larvae. However, sex specific DNA analysis is necessary to further confirm their sex determination, hence its potential applications in enhancing breeding strategies for research and commercial catfish aquaculture in Nigeria are discussed.

The trawl fishery off Egyptian Mediterranean waters consists of 1,400 vessels, yielding a total annual landing of approximately 16,000 t. The bogue (Boops boops) is a target species for this fishery, with annual landings oscillating between 1,222 and 3,980 t during the last 18 years. The stock of Boops boops in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters has been assessed using a 3 years length frequency data (2007–2009) from the trawl fishery. The vector of natural mortality by age was calculated from Caddy’s formula, using the PROBIOM Excel spreadsheet Abella AJ, Caddy JF, Serena F (Aquat Living Resourc 10:257–269, 1997). The method applied was a tuned virtual population analysis (VPA), applying the Extended Survivor Analysis (XSA) method on the period 2007–2009 and Y/R analysis on the pseudo-cohort 2007–2009. The software used was the VIT program. Results showed that the stock is over exploited, being the fishery operating below the optimal yield level since the current Y/R is lower than the maximum. Results suggest a decreasing trend in the average fishing mortality during the study period by about 40 %.