News

Climate Changes Might Lead To Famines In Next Ten Years

By Kamal Nayan | Update Date: Mar 18, 2014 11:38 AM EDT

In the next ten years, man-made climate changes will remarkably reduce crop yield especially in temperate and tropical regions, a new research has asserted. 

"Our research shows that crop yields will be negatively affected by climate change much earlier than expected," Professor Andy Challinor, from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds and lead author of the study, said in a news release. 

"Furthermore, the impact of climate change on crops will vary both from year-to-year and from place-to-place - with the variability becoming greater as the weather becomes increasingly erratic."

Challinor along with other researchers created a new data set by looking at 1,700 published assessments on how climate change will affect rice maize and wheat crops. 

"As more data have become available, we've seen a shift in consensus, telling us that the impacts of climate change in temperate regions will happen sooner rather than later," Professor Challinor said.

In the conclusion, researchers noted that the world would see crop consequences after warming of just two degree Celsius or by the 2030s. 

They added that in some regions, peasants were already being forced to adjust their planting dates or crop variety in order to adapt to warming temperatures. 

"Climate change means a less predictable harvest, with different countries winning and losing in different years. The overall picture remains negative, and we are now starting to see how research can support adaptation by avoiding the worse impacts," Professor Challinor added in the press release. 

The related study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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