'0.5ºC rise in temp will reduce wheat yield'

Times of India , Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Correspondent :
NEW DELHI: Climate change could deal a double whammy to Indian farmers as the phenomenon triggered by global warming could not only affect crop yields but also the total area under production,Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairperson R K Pachauri said on Tuesday.

While briefing media in the wake of the fourth assessment report of IPCC on climate change impact, he said food insecurity and loss of livelihood would be further exacerbated by loss of cultivated land and nursery areas for fisheries by inundation and coastal erosion in lowlying areas of tropical Asia.

Waving off issues about rift in the IPCC on the final version of the report, Pachauri said that predictions based on modelling studies indicate that substantial losses are likely in rain-fed wheat in south and southeast Asia. A 0.5 degree Celsius rise in winter temperature would reduce wheat yield by 0.45 tonnes per hectare in India, he pointed out.

Connecting immediate physical impacts of climate change to larger environmental processes and the costs that would need to be factored, he warned that sea-level rise would lead to ingress of saline water and lead to salination of groundwater and surface water. This could cause severe water stress, he pointed out.

On the impacts of global warming on biodiversity, Pachauri clarified that in Asia's case, almost 50% of flora and fauna diversity could suffer some or the other effect.

Grasslands are predicted to decrease in area and the grass productivity is bound to decline. This has immense ramification for India, where the farming community owns the largest number of cattle in the world.

 
SOURCE : Times of India, Wednesday, April 11, 2007
 


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