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| − | = Climate change - a threat to food security = | + | |Pub Title=Agrobiodiversity and climate change |
| − | | + | |Pub Subtitle=A complex relationship |
| − | The implications of [[Portal:Climate_Change|climate change]] for agriculture have opened a new window in the discussion of agrobiodiversity. Environmental change is one of many factors reducing the diversity of crops and livestock. Five climate change related factors can be identified: the rise in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, the rise of sea levels, higher incidence of extreme weather events and the increase of greenhouse gases – especially carbon dioxide – in the atmosphere.
| + | |Pub Author=Kotschi, J. |
| − | | + | |Pub Year=2006 |
| − | Dramatic implications are expected for agriculture and food supply, although with large regional differences. It is predicted that the 40 poorest countries, located predominantly in tropical Africa and Latin America, may lose 10 - 20 percent of their grain-growing capacity due to drought by 2080. It is also argued that many rain-fed crops in some areas are already near their maximum temperature tolerance, and their yield may fall sharply with a further temperature rise. By contrast, yield increases are expected in temperate regions; a country like China could experience a 25 percent rise in production. Tragically, these changes are likely to hit the world’s poorest people hardest.
| + | |Pub Keywords=agrobiodiversity |
| − | | + | |Pub Language=English |
| − | | + | |Pub Permission=I have read the Terms and Conditions and hereby accept them. |
| − | = Agrobiodiversity – an indispensable part of the solution = | + | |Pub Category=Agrobiodiversity |
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| − | In the light of this recognition, the subject of agrobiodiversity and its insidious decline acquires new significance. Agricultural genetic resources are not only a victim of climate change; they are of fundamental importance for adaptation to this change and are crucial to coping with the problems it poses. Plants and animals which have until now had no economic value but which can cope with the changing climatic situation will become more important. One question immediately arises: how much agrobiodiversity should we conserve for our future? Can our present cost/ benefit calculations, based on tight budgets, provide the right answer, or must we conserve all we have because the future needs for human survival are unknown? In scientific circles, the idea of conserving every species is regarded as utopian. Nevertheless, attempts should be made to maximise agrobiodiversity while keeping costs as low as possible. This requires an approach that goes far beyond the conservation strategies most widely used today.
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| − | | + | |Pub File=GIZ-Agrobiodiv and climate change 2006.pdf |
| − | The '''ex situ '''conservation of seeds, involving storage in refrigerated banks or botanical gardens, is essential but does not go nearly far enough. What is needed are broader and better integrated conservation schemes that rely primarily on ''in situ ''concepts – the conservation and breeding of genetic resources by farmers and farming communities on their farms and in their villages. Farmers have been doing this for thousands of years. Gene banks can complement their work but cannot replace it.
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| − | '''In situ''' schemes enable the use and conservation of genetic resources to be closely linked. True to the slogan “use it or lose it”, plant species or animal breeds should be used whenever and wherever possible; they should contribute
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| − | to securing rural livelihoods and form a part of rural culture. The inherent value of seemingly uneconomic crops or farming systems needs to be recognised and harnessed. Thus wild plants may be used for medicinal purposes, organically grown wheat landraces may fetch a higher price, or regions that maintain their diversity may profit from agrotourism, and so on. Of course it will not be possible to find a market for everything that should be conserved. But plants and animals deserve to be protected not only on account of their immediate usefulness, there are also social and cultural justifications for conservation, and it is therefore right that the public should pay for the service provided by farming communities.
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| − | = Agricultural diversity furthers adaptation to climate change = | + | |
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| − | However, climate change requires not only that genetic resources should be conserved, but also that they should adapt to climate change. Plants, animals and ecosystems have the capacity to adjust to changes in factors such as heat, drought or salinity, and this enables us to cope with the consequences of changing environments. This capacity is an outcome of genetic diversity. [[Overview_of_the_Adaptation_Process|Adaptation]] is a dynamic process brought about through an organism’s interaction with its environment. It is not a matter of, for example, deep-freezing a drought-resistant strain of millet for many decades in a gene bank, but rather of continuing to grow and breed the seeds in the fields where they are exposed to a wide range of agricultural and ecological conditions. The resistance of plants to environmental stress (e.g. drought tolerance) is a multi-genetic characteristic. It is difficult to achieve through genetic engineering and best developed through classical breeding under ''in situ ''conditions. The social dimension of these adaptive processes is no less important. The poor sectors of the population, in particular, must be enabled to adapt to changing environmental conditions; traditional knowledge and social organisation must be strengthened and developed. Women play an important part in this process. In farming communities throughout the world, they are and always have been the seed keepers and the preservers of genetic resources.Such a strategy as outlined above addresses regional and local agro-ecological variations and offers site-specific solutions. This contrasts with the large seed companies, which operate on the principle of mass production and aim to distribute a standardised variety or a whole cropping system technology as widely as possible.
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| − | = Agrobiodiversity is an integral part of rural development = | + | |
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| − | Despite the fundamental importance of agrobiodiversity for future [[Definition_and_Dimensions_of_Food_Security|food security]], the subject has received little attention in the international debate on adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to climate change in agriculture – if discussed at all within the various international development initiatives – is driven by the increased frequency of drought and flooding, and focuses mainly on improved water management. Agrobiodiversity – although a fundamental resource for adaptation – is almost forgotten.The conservation and sustainable management of agrobiodiversity is one of our greatest environmental challenges. An agrobiodiversity strategy needs to take account of the following:
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| − | Stronger coordination is needed between the key global programmes such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).
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| − | • Agrobiodiversity conservation should form a basic component of the adaptation strategies and plans for adapting to climate change called for by UNFCCC.
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| − | • Programmes for the management of agricultural genetic resources require their strategies to be reoriented. Formal institutional systems based on gene banks (''ex situ ''conservation) must be broadened to an integrated management system that includes farmers and their agricultural systems (''in situ ''conservation).
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| − | ''• In situ ''conservation of agricultural biodiversity must be made an integral part of agricultural development and be supplemented by ''ex situ ''conservation.
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| − | Individual states and the international community of nations must take the lead in implementing such a comprehensive approach. National laws and intergovernmental agreements will have to provide the necessary legal frame so that genetic resources remain largely a public domain with well-balanced benefit-sharing concepts among the various stakeholders. Civil society organisations as well as the corporate sector are more than ever required to fill this frame with development reality on the ground. Climate change-induced environmental stress may in fact exceed the adaptive capacity of animals and plants to cope with it. Nevertheless, the ''in situ ''approach offers a genuine chance to shape a future worth living.
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| − | = References and further information =
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| − | Kotschi, J.: Coping with Climate Change, and the Role of Agrobiodiversity. Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development. Tropentag 2006 University of Bonn. October 11-13, 2006.
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| − | [[Sourcebook on Sustainable Agrobiodiversity Management|GIZ 2011: Sourcebook on Sustainable Agrobiodiversity Management]]
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