Recent Advances of Agricultural Biotechnology in the Light of Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change is the most far reaching of the great challenges of twenty-first century, particularly it is likely to affect agricultural ecosystems in many ways, but perhaps most notable is that it will affect different regions of the globe differently. Tropical regions—and thus developing countries—will generally be more severely affected than temperate regions, primarily because growing temperature ranges and changes in precipitation regimes will add to water use demand. Also, while moderate warming actually benefits crops in the short term in mid and high latitudes, even slight warming would decrease yields in seasonally dry and low-latitude regions. It affects not only all people on the planet, but also governs the future of the rest of the biosphere. Because so much, and so many, are at stake, the question of how to minimize and deal with climate change remains hugely controversial. Densely populated developing countries in tropical and drought-stressed regions could experience increased food insecurity. While total potential world food production is projected to increase with increases in local average temperatures of 1–3 °C (but to decrease at higher temperatures), world food security is very vulnerable to extreme weather events and socio-economic factors. It should be noted that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s dire predictions about agricultural productivity in low-latitude countries are not backed by detailed and country specific studies, nor do they sufficiently factor in potential adaptation measures. However, the implications for food security are very sobering. All four dimensions of food security (food production, trade, stability of food supplies, access to food and food utilization) would be affected. Climate change would add to the burden of developing countries already faced with serious food insecurity problems and it would exacerbate them.