5 Ways Climate Change is Threatening the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers.

5 Ways Climate Change is Threatening the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers.For the world’s smallholder farmers, climate change is not a distant threat but a current reality.Although climate change is a global threat, its effects will be felt differently around the world. Smallholder farmers are on the front line of this crisis, which impacts every aspect of their daily lives — from the money they earn from their crops to the food they put on the table for their families. Higher temperatures, lower crop yields In low-latitude regions such as most of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America, even small changes in temperature and precipitation have led to reduced crop yields for many smallholder farmers. Higher average temperatures have also caused an increase in demand for water, a reduction in soil moisture, and water stress in many regions.

RESEARCH: Chronic kidney disease is on the rise linked to climate change .

RESEARCH: Chronic kidney disease is on the rise linked to climate change .Our kidneys might be vulnerable to the more frequent extreme heat brought on by global warming.In its early stages, chronic kidney disease can lurk silently in the body, causing no symptoms at all. Eventually, as these vital organs fail, the hands and feet start to puff up, and sufferers feel nauseated, achy, and itchy. When the disease reaches its last stage, the kidneys fail and you can die. Around 2000, health officials noticed that chronic kidney disease was on the rise in Central America. An epidemic seemed to be raging among farm workers who toiled in sugarcane fields on the Pacific Coast in El Salvador and Costa Rica — one of the hottest areas in the region. To date, more than 20,000 people have died in the epidemic, and thousands of others have had to go on kidney dialysis to survive. Researchers are now coming together around a hypothesis about what’s driving a little-appreciated epidemic, known as “Mesoamerican nephropathy.” more

AGRIBUSINESS: Climate change increasing the prevalence of harmful parasite.

AGRIBUSINESS: Climate change increasing the prevalence of harmful parasite.

A rise in a parasite called liver fluke, which can significantly impact livestock production in farms in the UK and across the world, could now be helped by a new predictive model of the disease aimed at farmers. 

 Cattle or sheep grazing on pastures where the parasite is present can become infected with liver fluke, which develops in the liver of infected animals, leading to a disease called fascioliasis. Current estimates suggest liver fluke contributes to around £300 million annually in lost productivity across UK farms and $3 billion globally.  

 Until now, risk predictions have been based on rainfall estimates and temperature, without considering the life-cycle of the parasite and how it is controlled by levels of soil moisture. 

This, combined with shifts in disease timing and distribution attributed to climate change, has made liver fluke control increasingly challenging. A new tool for farmers has now been developed by the Bristol team to help them mitigate the risk to their livestock. 

The model, which works by explicitly linking liver fluke prevalence with key environmental drivers, especially soil moisture, will help farmers decide whether they avoid grazing livestock on certain pastures where liver fluke is more prevalent, or treat animals based on when risk of infection will be at its peak. 

Importantly, the model can be used to assess the impact of potential future climate conditions on infection levels and guide interventions to reduce future disease risk. Professor Thorsten Wagener from Bristol's Cabot Institute added: "Water-related diseases can be difficult to eradicate using medicine alone, as resistance to available drugs is increasing. We need predictive models of disease risk that quantify how strongly infection risk is controlled by our rapidly changing environment to develop alternative intervention strategies."

AGRIBUSINESS: Transforming our food system to ensure a sustainable future.

AGRIBUSINESS: Transforming our food system to ensure a sustainable future. By 2050, the world will have almost 10 billion people. It will be impossible to feed everyone without exacerbating poverty, accelerting deforestation and increasing GHG(Green House Gas) emissions unless we start making substantial changes to our food system now. 

 This issue is covered in a new report, Creating a Sustainable Food Future , published on December 5 in the World Resources Report series. The report was produced by World Resources Institute(WRI)in partnership with the World Bank, UN Environment, UN Development Programme, CIRAD and INRA. In the report, WRI suggests ways of feeding almost 10 billion people by 2050.

 Food demand is set to rise by over 50%, with demand for animal-based food products (meat, dairy and eggs) likely to grow by almost 70%. Hundreds of millions of people already go hungry, Farming uses around half the world's green areas and generates a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Unsurprisingly, the report says that there is no silver bullet. However, it does offer a menu of 22 options that suggests it is possible to feed everyone sustainably.

 "This resembles the "Healthy" scenario established by the CIRAD-INRA Agrimonde-Terra foresight exercise in many important ways. However, the two differ in terms of their initial objectives. WRI set out to increase food production while reducing GHG emissions and limiting the spread of agriculture. WRI estimates that feeding the world sustainably while reducing agricultural land use and GHG emissions by 2050 will mean the whole world: 

 (1) reducing demand by cutting food loss and waste, eating less beef and lamb, using crops for food and feed rather than biofuels, and reducing population growth by achieving replacement fertility levels; (2) increasing crop and livestock productivity to higher than historical levels but on the same land area; (3) stopping deforestation, restoring peat lands and degraded land, and linking yield gains to protection of natural landscapes; (4) improving aquaculture and managing wild fisheries more effectively; (5) using innovative technologies and farming methods that lower agricultural GHG emissions.

 Limiting global warming will mean acting on the food sector. Food lies behind most environmental and development issues: deforestation, malnutrition, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, climate change, water pollution and more. By improving how the world's food is produced and consumed, we can treat the cause and not just the symptoms.

DUNG BEETLES AND GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS.

Cattle contributes to global warming by burping and farting large amounts of greenhouse gases and Some of the same gases are also emitted from cow pats on pastures. Researchers have found that beetles living in cow pats may reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas, methane. By digging around in their food, dung beetles like Aphodius pedellus may aerate cow pats and thereby modify methane emissions which will prevent climatic changes according to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE. Agriculture is one of the biggest sources of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and among these, cattle farming for meat and milk are major sources of methane, a gas with a potent warming effect. A large percentage of this methane comes from the guts of ruminating cattle, but some escapes from dung pats on pastures. Cow pats offer a prime food for a large number of organisms there are probably as many beetle species living in dung . The dung beetles live and spend most of their entire lives within the dung pats. The beetles exert much of their impact by simply digging around in the dung, and the tunneling by beetles seems to aerate the pats. This will have a major impact on how carbon escapes from cow pats into the atmosphere. This aeration prevents the production of methane,thus preventing the warming effect of the gas.

FOOD SECURITY AND ORGANIC AGRICULTURE.

Researchers have concluded that feeding a growing global population with sustainability goals in mind is possible. Their review of hundreds of published studies provides evidence that organic farming can produce sufficient yields, be profitable for farmers, protect and improve the environment and be safer for farm workers. "Hundreds of scientific studies now show that organic agriculture should play a role in feeding the world" said Reganold, lead author of the study. "Thirty years ago, there were just a couple handfuls of studies comparing organic agriculture with conventional. In the last 15 years, these kinds of studies have skyrocketed." Organic production currently accounts for only one percent of global agricultural land, despite rapid growth in the last two decades."In severe drought conditions, which are expected to increase with climate change, organic farms have the potential to produce high yields because of the higher water-holding capacity of organically farmed soils," Reganold said. However, even when yields may be lower, organic agriculture is more profitable for farmers because consumers are willing to pay more. Higher prices can be justified as a way to compensate farmers for providing ecosystem services and avoiding environmental damage or external costs. Numerous studies in the review also prove the environmental benefits of organic production. Overall, organic farms tend to store more soil carbon, have better soil quality, and reduce soil erosion. Organic agriculture also creates less soil and water pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions. And it's more energy efficient because it doesn't rely on synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. It is also associated with greater biodiversity of plants, animals, insects and microbes as well as genetic diversity. Biodiversity increases the services that nature provides like pollination and improves the ability of farming systems to adapt to changing conditions. Story credit; science daily.

POULTRY PRODUCTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

A team of researchers from US University of Delaware traveled to Africa in 2012 to search for exemplary chickens that could survive a hotter planet. The purpose was to develop new breeds of farm animals that can stand up to the hazards of global warming. Heat-resistant breeds of farm animals will be essential to feeding the world as climate change takes hold. This means that efforts such as trying to map the genetic code of African naked-neck chickens to find out if their ability to withstand heat can be bred into broiler flocks.Warmer temperatures can cause a lot of problems for animals like turkeys as these are vulnerable to a condition that makes their breast meat mushy and unappetizing. Turkeys are not heat tolerant at all, and when heat waves strike their breast muscles problems. According to Gale Strasburg, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Michigan State University Within a day or two after the heat wave hits, you will go from there being no problem at all on a farm to 40% of turkey breasts having a problem. Heat waves and temperature changes linked to breed susceptibility are points of focus for research on producing more heat resistant breeds to ensure food security.Work is ongoing on breeding techniques to incorporate the heat tolerant strains into lines of production.

AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATIC CHANGE.!!!

Maria Helena Semedo, UNFAO deputy director-general describes the importance of agriculture in addressing climate change at COP21, Maria Helena Semedo, UNFAO deputy director-general. Climate change can risk all progress made so far in fighting poverty, hunger and food security, says Maria Helena Semedo, UNFAO deputy director-general for Natural resources. Agriculture should be considered a solution and not a threat,” she stresses, adding that FAO’s work on climate change is aimed at strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers through a number of actions and strategies. These include providing technologies to improving production, to the implementation of systems as agro-ecology and climate smart agriculture. Working with policy makers on a global approach to climate change, FAO has helped develop a variety of solutions available for farmers, fishermen and foresters to choose the ones that best suit their needs.Because it cuts across all 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 agenda, failing to address climate change risks achieving the global goals. Read more here and watch video here;http://www.theguardian.com/fao-partner-zone/2015/dec/01/no-other-sector-is-more-sensitive-to-climate-change-than-agriculture?CMP=ema-1702&CMP=

COP21;FRANCE TO SPEND BILLION ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AFRICA.

France plans to spend billions of euros in renewable energy and other environmental projects in its former west African colonies and across Africa over the next five years said President François Hollande Africa produces little of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels, linked by scientists to rapid climate change. But it is particularly vulnerable to a changing climate, as much of its population is poor, rural and dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Hollande told a conference on Africa, held as part of climate change talks in Paris, that his government would double investments in renewable energy generation, ranging from wind farms to solar power and hydroelectric projects, across the continent to €2bn between 2016 and 2020. One project, dubbed the “Great Green Wall“, was initially intended to create a barrier of trees reaching from the Sahel in west Africa to the Sahara in the east, but will now focus on creating pockets of trees to revive the soil while another aims to protect Lake Chad, which is threatened by pollution. read more here;http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/01/cop21-france-to-spend-billions-on-african-renewable-energy-projects