Food & Climate 

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Introduction

Providing sufficient food for the world's people is becoming more difficult as the population exceeds six billion and as land, water, and ecosystems resources are degraded through overuse. Changes in the global pattern of food supply and demand may have consequences throughout the world because of the interdependence of the world's food systems.

In the Introduction to the 'basic' section of the Food and Climate Topic we mentioned that regional changes in climate resulting from global warming are likely to affect food production, crop pests, diseases and food production costs.  We also showed that the negative impacts of climate change are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor.

In this 'read more' section we will look at how agriculture has evolved over time and how it will change in the future.  We will look at how computer models are being used to predict the future and what we can do to minimise the undesirable impacts of global warming.  We will concentrate, in particular, on the Mediterranean region, an area which is very vulnerable to climate change.

1. Past and present

• Crops
• Weeds, diseases and pests
• Major historical climate events which have affected food production
  

2. Predicting the future

• Realities and uncertainties
• Global change
• Case study in Egypt
• Case study in Spain

3. Drought in the Mediterranean

• Why is drought an important issue in the Mediterranean countries?
• Driving factors for drought
• Use of climate information for drought management and early warning systems

Author:  Marta Moneo and Dr. Ana Iglesias - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, España
1. scientific reviewer: Alex de Sherbinin - CIESIN, Columbia University, USA
2. scientific reviewer: Lily Parshall - Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, USA
educational reviewer: Emilio Sternfeld - Colegio Virgen de Mirasierra - España
last published: 2004-05-12