Farming for Our Future PDF Download

Author: PETER H.. ROSENBERG LEHNER (NATHAN A.)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781585762378
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309471699
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

Author: Eva Wollenberg
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136503447
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
This book reviews the state of agricultural climate change mitigation globally, with a focus on identifying the feasibility, opportunities and challenges for achieving mitigation among smallholder farmers. The purpose is ultimately to accelerate efforts towards mitigating land-based climate change. While much attention has been focused on forestry for its reputed cost-effectiveness, the agricultural sector contributes about ten to twelve per cent of emissions and has a large technical and economic potential for reducing greenhouse gases. The book does not dwell on the science of emissions reduction, as this is well covered elsewhere; rather, it focuses on the design and practical implementation of mitigation activities through changing farming systems. Climate Change Mitigation and Agriculture includes chapters about experiences in developed countries, such as Canada and Australia, where these efforts also have lessons for mitigation options for smallholders in poorer nations, as well as industrialising countries such as Brazil and China. A wide range of agroecological zones and of aspects or types of farming, including livestock, crops, fish farming, fertilizer use and agroforestry, as well as economics and finance, is included. The volume presents a synthesis of current knowledge and research activities on this emerging subject. Together the chapters capture an exciting period in the development of land-based climate change mitigation as attention is increasingly focused on agriculture's role in contributing to climate change.

Author: Kathy Lewis
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039363824
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The Anthropocene, the time of humans. Never has human influence on the functioning of the planet been greater or in more urgent need of mitigation. Climate change, the accelerated warming of the planet’s surface attributed to human activities, is now at the forefront of global politics. The agriculture sector not only contributes to climate change but also feels the severity of its effects, with the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles all subject to modification as a result. Crop production systems are each subject to different types of threat and levels of threat intensity. There is however significant potential to both adapt to and mitigate climate change within the agricultural sector and reduce these threats. Each solution must be implemented in a sustainable manner and tailored to individual regions and farming systems. This Special Issue evaluates a variety of potential climate change adaptation and mitigation techniques that account for this spatial variation, including modification to cropping systems, Climate-Smart Agriculture and the development and growth of novel crops and crop varieties.

Author: David B. Lobell
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048129524
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Roughly a billion people around the world continue to live in state of chronic hunger and food insecurity. Unfortunately, efforts to improve their livelihoods must now unfold in the context of a rapidly changing climate, in which warming temperatures and changing rainfall regimes could threaten the basic productivity of the agricultural systems on which most of the world’s poor directly depend. But whether climate change represents a minor impediment or an existential threat to development is an area of substantial controversy, with different conclusions wrought from different methodologies and based on different data. This book aims to resolve some of the controversy by exploring and comparing the different methodologies and data that scientists use to understand climate’s effects on food security. In explains the nature of the climate threat, the ways in which crops and farmers might respond, and the potential role for public and private investment to help agriculture adapt to a warmer world. This broader understanding should prove useful to both scientists charged with quantifying climate threats, and policy-makers responsible for crucial decisions about how to respond. The book is especially suitable as a companion to an interdisciplinary undergraduate or graduate level class.

Author: Emmanuel Torquebiau
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9401774625
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
In recent years, especially with the approach of the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in late 2015, the number of publications, conferences and meetings on climate change has been growing exponentially. Yet uncertainties remain concerning rural tropical areas where models are forecasting the onset of multiple disorders and trends are unclear. Meanwhile, the impact of climate change on the poorest communities is regularly documented, often prompting alarmist reactions. How can food security be achieved while adapting to and mitigating climate change? What are the main threats to agriculture in developing countries? How do farmers in these countries cope with the threats? What does agricultural research propose? What options have yet to be investigated? A broad scope of scientific research is underway to address these challenges. Diverse solutions are available, including new agricultural practices, water management, agricultural waste recycling, diagnosis of emerging diseases, payment for ecosystem services, etc. Gaining insight into the financial and political mechanisms that underlie international climate negotiations is also essential to design practical ways to deal with climate issues and meet sustainable development requirements in collaboration with farmers. This book pools the wealth of experience of dozens of researchers and development officers from a range of disciplines. We have focused on making it detailed, accurate and hopefully easy to read for researchers, students and all other informed readers.

Author: Lucjan Pawlowski
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000168891
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
According to IPCC reports, one of the greatest threats to the Earth ecosystems is climate change caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide, mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels, cement production and land-use change which leads to an excessive temperature rise. Agriculture and forestry are responsible for quiet big emissions of greenhouse gases: CO2, CH4 and N2O, and have significant potential to reduce these emissions mainly through enhancement of CO2 absorption by terrestrial ecosystems. To evaluate the impact of agriculture on climate change, ruminant farming should be also taken into account. These animals emit considerable amounts of methane which has strong greenhouse effects. Methane emissions may be reduced by using appropriate feed for ruminants. Decreasing the meat consumption of these animals can also make an important contribution to reducing methane emissions. The methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through appropriate management of terrestrial ecosystems and animal husbandry are widely discussed in The Role of Agriculture in Climate Change Mitigation. The book will be of interest to academics, professionals and policy makers in environmental sciences.

Author: Eric Toensmeier
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603585729
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
With carbon farming, agriculture ceases to be part of the climate problem and becomes a critical part of the solution "This book is the toolkit for making the soil itself a sponge for carbon. It’s a powerful vision."—Bill McKibben "The Carbon Farming Solution is a book we will look back upon decades from now and wonder why something so critically relevant could have been so overlooked until that time. . . . [It] describes the foundation of the future of civilization."—Paul Hawken In this groundbreaking book, Eric Toensmeier argues that agriculture—specifically, the subset of practices known as "carbon farming"—can, and should be, a linchpin of a global climate solutions platform. Carbon farming is a suite of agricultural practices and crops that sequester carbon in the soil and in above-ground biomass. Combined with a massive reduction in fossil fuel emissions—and in concert with adaptation strategies to our changing environment— carbon farming has the potential to bring us back from the brink of disaster and return our atmosphere to the "magic number" of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Toensmeier’s book is the first to bring together these powerful strategies in one place. Includes in-depth analysis of the available research. Carbon farming can take many forms. The simplest practices involve modifications to annual crop production. Although many of these modifications have relatively low sequestration potential, they are widely applicable and easily adopted, and thus have excellent potential to mitigate climate change if practiced on a global scale. Likewise, grazing systems such as silvopasture are easily replicable, don’t require significant changes to human diet, and—given the amount of agricultural land worldwide that is devoted to pasture—can be important strategies in the carbon farming arsenal. But by far, agroforestry practices and perennial crops present the best opportunities for sequestration. While many of these systems are challenging to establish and manage, and would require us to change our diets to new and largely unfamiliar perennial crops, they also offer huge potential that has been almost entirely ignored by climate crusaders. Many of these carbon farming practices are already implemented globally on a scale of millions of hectares. These are not minor or marginal efforts, but win-win solutions that provide food, fodder, and feedstocks while fostering community self-reliance, creating jobs, protecting biodiversity, and repairing degraded land—all while sequestering carbon, reducing emissions, and ultimately contributing to a climate that will remain amenable to human civilization. Just as importantly to a livable future, these crops and practices can contribute to broader social goals such as women’s empowerment, food sovereignty, and climate justice. The Carbon Farming Solution is—at its root—a toolkit and the most complete collection of climate-friendly crops and practices currently available. With this toolkit, farmers, communities, and governments large and small, can successfully launch carbon farming projects with the most appropriate crops and practices to their climate, locale, and socioeconomic needs. Toensmeier’s ultimate goal is to place carbon farming firmly in the center of the climate solutions platform, alongside clean solar and wind energy. With The Carbon Farming Solution, Toensmeier wants to change the discussion, impact policy decisions, and steer mitigation funds to the research, projects, and people around the world who envision a future where agriculture becomes the protagonist in this fraught, urgent, and unprecedented drama of our time. Citizens, farmers, and funders will be inspired to use the tools presented in this important book to transform degraded lands around the world into productive carbon-storing landscapes.

Author: William R Cline
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0881324809
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
How will global warming affect developing countries, which rely heavily on agriculture as a source of economic growth? William Cline asserts that developing countries have more at risk, such as their production capacity, than industrial countries as global warming worsens. Using general circulation models, Cline boldly examines 2071–99 to forecast the effects of global warming and its economic impact into the next decade. This detailed study outlines existing studies on climate change; Cline finds the Stern Report for the UK government's estimates most reliable; estimates projected changes in temperature, precipitation, and agricultural capacity; and concludes with policy recommendations. Cline finds that agricultural production in developing countries may fall an average of 16 percent, and if global warming progresses at its current rate, India's agricultural capacity could fall as much as 40 percent. Thus, policymakers should address this phenomenon now before the world's developing countries are adversely and irreversibly affected.

Author: Syed Sheraz Mahdi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319900862
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This book provides the most recent understanding about climate change and its effects on agriculture in India. Further in-depth research is showcased regarding important allied sectors such as horticulture and fisheries, and examines the effect of climate change on different cereal crops. The individual chapters discuss the different mitigation strategies for climate change impacts and detail abiotic and biotic stresses in relation to climate change. The book provides an insight into environmentally safe and modern technologies approaches such as nanotechnology and utilization of underutilized crops under a changing climate. This book provides a solid foundation for the discussion of climate resilience in agricultural systems and the requirements to keep improving agricultural production. This book is an excellent resource for researchers, instructors, students in agriculture, horticulture and environmental science.