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Integrated Assessments of the Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture: An Overview of AgMIP Regional Research in South AsiaSouth Asia encompasses a wide and highly varied geographic region, and includes climate zones ranging from the mountainous Himalayan territory to the tropical lowland and coastal zones along alluvial floodplains. The region's climate is dominated by a monsoonal circulation that heralds the arrival of seasonal rainfall, upon which much of the regional agriculture relies. The spatial and temporal distribution of this rainfall is, however, not uniform over the region. Northern South Asia, central India, and the west coast receive much of their rainfall during the southwest monsoon season, between June and September. These rains partly result from the moisture transport accompanying the monsoonal winds, which move in the southwesterly direction from the equatorial Indian Ocean. Regions further south, such as south/southeast India and Sri Lanka, may receive rains from both the southwest monsoon, and also during the northeast monsoon season between October and December (with northeasterly monsoon wind flow and moisture flux), which results in a bi- or multi-modal rainfall distribution. In addition, rainfall across South Asia displays a large amount of intraseasonal and interannual variability. Interannual variability is influenced by many drivers, both natural (e.g., El Ni-Southern Oscillation; ENSO) and man-made (e.g., rising temperatures due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations), and it is challenging to obtaining accurate time-series of annual rainfall, even amongst various observed data products, which display inconsistencies amongst themselves. These climatic and rainfall variations can further complicate South Asia's agricultural and water management. Agriculture employs at least 65 of the workforce in most South Asian countries, and nearly 80 of South Asia's poor inhabit rural areas. Understanding the response of current agricultural production to climate variability and future climate change is of utmost importance in securing food and livelihoods for South Asia's growing population. In order to assess the future of food and livelihood security across South Asia, the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) has undertaken integrated climate-crop-economic assessments of the impact of climate change on food security and poverty in South Asia, encompassing Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. AgMIP has funded, on a competitive basis, four South Asian regional research teams (RRTs) and one South Asian coordination team (CT) to undertake climate-crop-economic integrated assessments of food security for many districts in each of these countries, with the goal of characterizing the state of food security and poverty across the region, and projecting how these are subject to change under future climate change conditions.
Document ID
20150010254
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Book Chapter
Authors
McDermid, Sonali P.
(Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. Oak Ridge, TN, United States)
Dileepkumar, Guntuku
(International Crops Research Inst. for the Semi-Arid Tropics Hyderabad, India)
Murthy, K. M. Dakshina
(International Crops Research Inst. for the Semi-Arid Tropics Hyderabad, India)
Nedumaran, S.
(International Crops Research Inst. for the Semi-Arid Tropics Hyderabad, India)
Singh, Piara
(International Crops Research Inst. for the Semi-Arid Tropics Hyderabad, India)
Srinivasa, Chukka
(Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ. Coimbatore, India)
Gangwar, B.
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research New Delhi, India)
Subash, N.
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research New Delhi, India)
Ahmad, Ashfaq
(univ agriculture pakistan Faisalabad, Pakistan)
Zubair, Lareef
(Peradeniya Univ. Sri Lanka)
Nissanka, S. P.
(Peradeniya Univ. Sri Lanka)
Date Acquired
June 9, 2015
Publication Date
April 24, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Handbook of Climate Change and Agroecosystems: The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AGMIP) Integrated Crop and Economic Assessments (e-Book)
Publisher: Imperial College Press
ISBN: 978-1-78326-564-0
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN22306
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 144598.04.01.01.17
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
mountains
rain
monsoons
India
security
Asia
variability
agriculture
climate
climate change
coasts

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