Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture

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Climate Change Challenges and Opportunities for
Agriculture

• Paul Temple
• Vice President, National Farmers Union
• 3 June 2008

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Climate Change

• Continued GHG emissions at or above current
  rates would cause further warming and induce many
  changes in the global climate system during the
  21st century that would very likely be larger
  than those observed during the 20th century
• IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

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Challenges and opportunities

• Challenges
• Escalating energy costs
• Reducing emissions
• Opportunities
• The role of biomass
• Rural Development

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Food security

• Commodity costs
• Changes in supply and demand
• Under investment in agriculture
• there are many factors affecting food prices
  and food security. What the debate should really
  be about is how the world produces food and how
  it is accessed by different groups of society
• Bill Jackson Deputy General IUCN

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Agricultures potential

• In developing countries, nearly 70 of people
  live in rural areas where agriculture is the
  largest supporter of livelihoods.
• if farmers get fair prices it gives them more
  capital to improve yield.
• Joshua Mwankunda, programme co-ordinator
  Agricultural Marketing Systems Development
  Programme (AMSDP)

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Rural development opportunities

• Diversification
• Job creation
• Bio-economy
• Knowledge economy
• Changing perceptions of agriculture
• Part of the solution
• Reducing reliance on fossil fuels

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Fossil fuels

• Crude Oil /barrel last 3 months

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• Important role of Agriculture
• Investment as key to potential
• Opportunities
• Rural development
• Energy Security