Practical action briefing climate change and agriculture
Loading...
Authors
Practical Action Eastern Africa
Practical Action Eastern Africa
Issue Date
2012
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Environment , Technology
Alternative Title
Abstract
Agriculture produces the food humans need to live an active and healthy life and provides livelihoods for about half the world's population. But it also has a troubling relationship to climate change — simultaneously being affected by and a cause of the problem. Based on the impact of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, changes in climate are expected to lead to drastically reduced agricultural production in parts of the world, with potentially a 50% reduction in Africa alone. This reduction will affect global food supplies and disproportionately impact on the poor. Yet certain agricultural practises significantly contribute to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, both directly through the use of fossil fuels, and indirectly, for example through deforestation driven by the demand for land, usually for cash crops, which releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. This need not be the case; agriculture also has the capacity to contribute to removal of GHG from the atmosphere. Practical Action's projects and policy work, therefore, address agriculture as a key sector in which support and change are needed to ensure effective adaptation and to maximize the huge potential for mitigating climate change