"Global warming will likely hit food production in developing nations the
hardest, increasing the risks of drought and famine in the countries that
already struggle to feed their populations, a senior UN official said
Tuesday.
However, a rise in global temperatures would increase food production in
most industrialized countries, which mostly have colder climates, said
Jacques Diouf the Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). ...
He estimated that a country like India could lose 18 percent of its annual
cereal production. Developing genetically modified crops that produce
higher yields could offset the impact of climate change, Diouf said, while
noting that crops designed to be resistant to drought and flourish in
extreme conditions are not yet a reality. .." [Associated Press/Factiva]
Reuters adds that "...Even small global temperature rises would trigger
crop declines and raise the risk of hunger at lower latitudes, especially
in the seasonally dry tropics, said Diouf. ...
Climate change has already hit forest areas and people leaving there as
forest fires and outbreaks of forest pests and diseases have increased,
FAO said. ..." [Reuters/Factiva]
NYT notes that "...'Rain-fed agriculture in marginal areas in semiarid and
sub humid regions is mostly at risk,' Diouf said on a visit to the
southern Indian city of Chennai. ''India could lose 125 million tons of
its rain-fed cereal production, equivalent to 18 percent of its total
production.'
That is a signal of the steep human and economic impact of extreme weather
in India, where a majority of peasants still rely on the rains to irrigate
their fields and where a bad flood can be nearly as devastating as a bad
drought. The latest floods have affected an estimated 20 million people in
India alone, 8 million in neighboring Bangladesh and 300,000 in Nepal,
according to the United Nations children's agency...." [The New York
Times]
Source: World Bank News
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
No comments:
Post a Comment