Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change

Robert J. Redden, Shyam Singh Yadav, Nigel Maxted, Mohammad Ehsan Dulloo, Luigi Guarino, Paul Smith

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781118854273
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Two major challenges to continued global food security are the ever increasing demand for food products, and the unprecedented abiotic stresses that crops face due to climate change.Wild relatives of domesticated crops serve as a reservoir of genetic material, with the potential to be used to develop new, improved varieties of crops. Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change integrates crop evolution, breeding technologies and biotechnologies, improved practices and sustainable approaches while exploring the role wild relatives could play inincreasingagricultural output. Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change begins with overviews of the impacts of climate change on growing environments and the challenges that agricultural production face in coming years and decades. Chapters then explore crop evolution and the potential for crop wild relatives to contribute novel genetic resources to the breeding of more resilient and productive crops. Breeding technologies and biotechnological advances that are beingused to incorporatekey genetic traits of wild relativesinto crop varieties are also covered.There is also a valuable discussion on the importance of conserving genetic resources to ensure continued successful crop production. A timely resource, Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change will be an invaluable resource for the crop science community for years to come.

Chapter 1
Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture Production, Food, and Nutritional Security

Shyam S. Yadav, Danny Hunter, Bob Redden, Mahboob Nang, D. K. Yadava and Abdul Basir Habibi

Introduction

During recent years, worldwide heavy rains and floods, fire in forests, occurrences and spread of new diseases, as found in the new strains of different pathogens and viruses, and abnormal bacterial growth, higher incidences of insects pests are all direct indications of drastic environmental changes globally. It is now well established and documented that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the main reason for the climate change at global level. It is also well recognized that agriculture sector is directly affected by changes in temperature, precipitation, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration in the atmosphere. Thus, early and bold measures are needed to minimize the potentially drastic climate impacts on the production and productivity of various field crops. In most of the developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Asia Pacific regions, about 70% of the population depends directly or indirectly for its livelihood on agriculture sector and most of this population lives in arid or semiarid regions, which are already characterized by highly volatile climate conditions.

Food, from staple cereal grains to high protein legumes and oilseed crops, is central to human development and well-being (Misselhorn et al., 2012); however, the complexity of global food security is becoming challenging and will be made more so under climate change. The world continues to face huge difficulties in securing adequate food that is healthy, safe, and of high nutritional quality for all (Redden et al., 2011, 2014) and in an equitable and environmentally sustainable manner (Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009; Godfray et al., 2010). With the growing demand of an expected 9 billion people by 2050, it remains unclear how our current global food system will cope with an ever-increasing demand for food, and how this supply can be maintained while ensuring minimal environmental impact (Tilman et al., 2011; Foley et al., 2011). Compounded with climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity under stress, ongoing loss of species and of crop genetic diversity, increasing urbanization, social conflict, and extreme poverty, there has never been a more urgent time for collective action to address food security (Hunter and Fanzo, 2013; Dulloo et al., 2014).

Despite considerable achievements to date in feeding a growing population, as of 2011–2013, a total of 842 million people, 1 in 8 worldwide still suffers from chronic hunger, struggling to obtain enough nourishment to lead an active and fulfilling life (FAO, 2013). Furthermore, micronutrient deficiencies, known as hidden hunger, continue to ravish and undermine the growth and development potential, health, and productivity of over 2 billion people worldwide(Micronutrient Initiative, 2009).

Reversing these trends in the context of ongoing global change, especially climate change, and finite available resources poses huge challenges to our current food production and food systems (Smith 2012). The response must permit more agricultural production from the same area of land through sustainable intensification (FAO, 2009a, 2009b, 2011a, 2011b; Garnett et al., 2013). Foremost among the strategies to achieve this are significant efforts to reduce current “yield gaps,” improve production efficiencies, reduce food waste and sustainable dietary change (Godfray et al., 2012; Foley et al., 2011; Tilman et al., 2011).

The causes of climate change can be linked to the increased impact of human activities on the concentration of greenhouse including aerosols and changes in land use patterns. These effects influence the radiation balance of the earth, evaporation rate from the earth's surface, and patterns of heating and cooling around the globe (IPCC, 2007b). The negative effects of climate change on agriculture is most pronounced in developing countries (de la Peña et al., 2011; IPCC, 2007b; Lobell et al., 2011a, 2011b; Nelson et al., 2009, 2010; Wassmann et al., 2010; Müller et al., 2011).

The impacts of climate change on agriculture are going to be particularly substantial, which also means that those countries still heavily reliant on agriculture will be disproportionately affected. Climate change is set to have significant impacts on crop, livestock, and pasture production including impacts on pest and diseases and water availability (Conway, 2012). Moderate temperature rises alone can significantly reduce yields of major food cereals, with Lobell et al. (2011a, 2011b) indicating that around three-quarters of Africa's maize crop would suffer a 20% yield loss with 1 °C rise in temperature. Climate change is also expected to impact heavily on livestock especially in arid and semiarid regions, especially on pasture species composition and forage quality. Likewise, more frequent and severe pest and disease attacks are anticipated. Bebber et al. (2013) highlight trends since 1960 in pole ward shifts of pests and pathogens to new areas. Further, soil-borne pathogens and diseases are expected to be an increasing problem under increasing temperature (Jaggard et al., 2010).

It is likely that the impact of climate change on food security will be felt most in those parts of the world currently vulnerable to poverty, hunger, and malnutrition (Redden et al., 2014). In a global review of scientific papers on climate change and food security, the authors found that 70% focused on food availability compared to the other dimensions of food security (accessibility, utilization, and stability). Climate change will certainly negatively impact crop and food production, with consequent effects on food prices, incomes, and trade, and sanitation may be affected if access to water is also affected. Climate change is likely to influence the stability of the food system through impacts on market volatility for both production and supply (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). Clearly addressing food security is not just a matter of increasing food production and availability, though this is what concerns us most in this chapter.

The c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Tribute in the Memory of Manav Yadav
• About the Editors
• List of Contributors
• Foreword by Prof. Geoffrey Hawtin
• Foreword by Dr. R S Paroda
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture Production, Food, and Nutritional Security
• Chapter 2: Challenge for Future Agriculture
• Chapter 3: Global Warming and Evolution of Wild Cereals
• Chapter 4: Wild Relatives for the Crop Improvement Challenges of Climate Change: The Adaptation Range of Crops
• Chapter 5: The Importance of Crop Wild Relatives, Diversity, and Genetic Potential for Adaptation to Abiotic Stress-Prone Environments
• Chapter 6: Conservation Planning for Crop Wild Relative Diversity
• Chapter 7: Research on Conservation and Use of Crop Wild Relatives
• Chapter 8: Research on Crop Wild Relatives in Major Food Crops
• Chapter 9: Utilization of Wild Relatives in the Breeding of Tomato and Other Major Vegetables
• Chapter 10: Conservation Roles of the Millennium Seed Bank and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
• Chapter 11: Seed Biology
• Chapter 12: Biotechnology and Genomics: Exploiting the Potential of CWR
• Chapter 13: Unavailability of Wild Relatives
• Chapter 14: Synthetic Engineered Genes, GMO, and Hybridization with Wild Relatives
• Chapter 15: Using Genomic Approaches to Unlock the Potential of CWR for Crop Adaptation to Climate Change
• Chapter 16: The Economics of Crop Wild Relatives under Climate Change
• Chapter 17: Potential of Minor Fruit Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) as New Crops in Breeding for Market Diversification
• Chapter 18: The Australian Vigna Species: A Case Study in the Collection and Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives
• Chapter 19: Beyond Biodiversity: Ecosystem Services of Crop Wild Relatives
• Chapter 20: CWR and the Prebreeding in the Context of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
• Index
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