ICRAF Publication Detail Page

Publication Details

Book
BK0154-12
TitleClimate Change Adaptation for Smallholder Farmers in Southeast Asia
AuthorRodel D. Lasco, Christi ne Marie D. Habito, Rafaela Jane Delfino, Florencia B Pulhin and Rogelio N. Concepcion
Year2011
PublisherWorld Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Philippines
City of PublicationLos Banos, Philippines
Number of Pages65
Call NumberBK0154-12
Abstract:
Climate change, defi ned as any change in the average daily weather patt ern over an extended period of ti me (typically decades or longer) whether due to natural variability or as a result of human acti vity (Easterling et al. 2007, IPCC 2007a), is happening now, and is already aff ecti ng many natural systems around the world (IPCC 2007a).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared in its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) that climate change is unequivocal (IPCC 2007a), evidenced by observed changes in several global and regional climati c indicators. The Food and Agriculture Organizati on (FAO) expects that considerable eff orts would be required to prepare developing countries to deal with climate-related impacts, parti cularly in agriculture (FAO 2007). However, the IPCC also notes that recent studies show a high confi dence that there are viable adaptati on opti ons that can be implemented at low cost and/or with high benefi t-cost rati os (IPCC 2007a).

At the country level, climate change refers to observable changes and permutati ons (undefi ned geographic variati ons) of temperature, rainfall and extreme climate events and their single or collecti ve impacts on various agricultural producti on and harvesti ng acti viti es (Concepcion 2008). Increase in temperature would have whole year and day-to-day on-site impacts that accelerate the changes/decompositi on of soil organic matt er and loss of soil ferti lity, which ulti mately aff ects the overall health of crops and livestock. Soil temperature and organic matt er are useful indices of ecosystem recovery aft er disturbance of natural vegetati on (Aust and Lea 1991). The varying intensity and patt erns of rainfall and extreme climate events (typhoons and El Niño) during the remaining periods of rainy season would have expanded the coverage of climate change off -site impacts which include massive soil erosion and irreversible loss of sloping land soil ferti lity and life threatening fl oods and landslide (Concepcion 2008).
Download file(s): Click icon to download/open file.
  File Size Description
download file - URL
Viewed in 2197 times. Downloaded in 691 times.