Climate change, together with global population and income growth, is a major threat to food security in the world. This food policy report presents research results which quantify climate change impact, assess the consequences for food security and estimate the investment required to offset the negative effects on human wellbeing. It brings together detailed modelling of crop growth under climate change using two scenarios to simulate future climate.

In the last decade, discussions on the effects of climate change have become more intense. They mostly focus on reducing emissions in industrialised nations, but learning how to adapt to climate change is equally important. What lessons can policymakers learn from experiences to date?Most
farmers in Senegal practice rain fed production with basic technologies.
However, since the 1970s, there have been successive droughts, a progressive
reduction in rainfall and soil has become degraded. The government has policies

This report investigates the role of agriculture in addressing global challenges related to climate, water and food. Based on three international events over 2009: the World Water Forum, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the report identifies the interconnections between the three and the need to develop complementary policy options and action steps. The key findings of the report are:

This discussion paper is based on micro-level analysis of adaptation that focuses on tactical decisions farmers make in response to seasonal variations in climatic, economic, and other factors in Southern Africa.  The document is based on a cross-section database of three countries: South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The data used in this study was collected as part of the Global Environment Facility/World Bank Climate Change and African Agriculture Project.  The key findings from this study include:

The second edition of the WISIONS publication ‘Sustainble Energy for Poverty Reduction’ describes a range of projects that contribute to this end. One is the community-based adaptation project Solar Pintadas.
The aim of this project is to support rural development and entrepreneurship by increasing agricultural production through an efficient irrigation system driven by renewable energy. The project achieves this by using photovoltaic and biodiesel water pumps to improve local irrigation systems.

The project takes place in the community of Pintadas, in the Bahia state of Brazil, which is suffering increasingly severe drought impacts linked to climate change. There is a high demand for legumes from local and national markets, and a potential to cultivate a greater area of land for this purpose, but opportunities to expand local agricultural practices in this direction are restricted by the absence of an efficient, cost-effective irrigation system. Further, the high insulation rate of the area makes it extremely suitable for effective solar energy systems.

This paper analyses the relationship between agriculture and nature. It notes that agriculture degrades the environment by way of the conversion of forests, grasslands and other habitats for agricultural use; degradation of soil quality, pollution of soil and water through excessive or inappropriate use of pesticides and fertilisers; emissions; loss of crop and livestock genetic diversity through the spread of monocultures. However, the paper goes on to argue that if agriculture can harm the environment, it can also sustain it.

The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines recognizes that energy plays a major role in the diversification of the country's economy and in the pursuit of poverty reduction.

River flows are threatened by deforestation, variation of annual precipitation caused by climate change and competing uses, like fresh water supply and irrigation. Alternative energy and adaptation of resources will be key to sustainable livelihoods in the face of climate change, felt acutely in the islands' region.

Researchers in this study put forward a budget-neutral approach for incentivising the adoption of solar pumps in India.

The study also looks at parity between solar and electric pumps from economic perspective, i.e. NPV (net present value) of the expenses to be incurred by the farmer. 

It further explores mechanisms for promoting the deployment of solar pumps, and the need to assess the suitability of solar pumps in providing sustainable irrigation, before they are scaled up.