Global climate change: processes and products – an overview

Abstract

Our knowledge of global climate change has many uncertainties.Whether global air temperature will increase, by how much, and when,are subject to debate, but there is little doubt that troposphericconcentrations of several trace gases are increasing. While possibleincreases in the average air temperature is a product of these changes,the increases in the trace gases alone will have an effect on agriculture.Increases in the ambient concentrations of carbon dioxide are expectedto have a positive net effect on crop production. In contrast, anyincreases in the penetration of surface-level ultraviolet-B (280–320 nm)radiation, and known increases in surface ozone concentrations, areconsidered to have adverse effects on certain crops. Our presentknowledge of the joint effects on crops of elevated levels of carbondioxide, ultraviolet-B radiation and ozone, and possible alterations in airtemperature and precipitation patterns, is virtually zero. Therefore, anypredictions of the effects of global climate change on agriculture aresubject to significant uncertainties. In contrast, coupling of climatechange (only temperature and precipitation) models to crop productionhas led to a number of future scenarios. In spite of theirpresent limitations, results from these efforts can be useful in planningfor future agriculture.