Adaptation Strategies in Coping with Climate Change Impacts for Improved Crop Health and Sustainable Food Production

Abstract

In this chapter, historical climate information on rainfall, evaporationand temperature is compared with projections of these variables usingoutputs from the CSIRO Mk3 GCM for the A1B SRES scenario and stochasticdownscaling models for two selected locations in Australia. Thedifferences between current climatic parameters and those for 2030 and2070 provide information on the changes in dependability of crop growingseasons. These analyses could also be used in identifying suitablestrategies for adaptation to the projected climate change, and forevaluating alternate management options relating to excess andinsufficient water during the growing season. These findings also haveimplications in resource management for mitigation purposes (e.g. therole of crop models in screening environments for growing of carbonsinks). The issue of the response of pests and diseases, and theirinteraction with host crops, to climate change is also considered.Information is required on the seasonal and geographic distributions ofthe occurrence and severity of pests and diseases for future climaticsituations. We also report on current research aiming to integratepathogen, crop and weather information for making tactical cropmanagement decisions.Even though the study uses Australian data as a case study to test andvalidate the methodologies presented, it provides a generic frameworkand research directions which can easily be applied to other parts ofthe world including South Asia. Implications of research findings toSouth Asia and future research directions are also discussed.