The Earth's climate is constantly changing. Some of the changes are progressive, while others fluctuate at various time scales. The El Niño-la Niña cycle is one such fluctuation that recurs every few years and has far-reaching impacts. It generally appears at least once per decade, but this may vary with our changing climate. The exact frequency, sequence, duration and intensity of El Niño's manifestations, as well as its effects and geographic distributions, are highly variable. The El Niño-la Niña cycle is particularly challenging to study due to its many interlinked phenomena that occur in various locations around the globe. These worldwide teleconnections are precisely what makes studying El Niño-la Niña so important. Cynthia Rosenzweig and Daniel Hillel describe the current efforts to develop and apply a global-to-regional approach to climate-risk management. They explain how atmospheric and social scientists are cooperating with agricultural practitioners in various regions around the world to determine how farmers may benefit most from new climate predictions. Specifically, the emerging ability to predict the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle offers the potential to transform agricultural planning worldwide. Biophysical scientists are only now beginning to recognize the large-scale, globally distributed impacts of ENSO on the probabilities of seasonal precipitation and temperature regimes. Meanwhile, social scientists have been researching how to disseminate forecasts more effectively within rural communities. Consequently, as the quality of climatic predictions have improved, the dissemination and presentation of forecasts have become more effective as well. This book explores the growing understanding of the interconnectedness of climate predictions and productive agriculture for sustainable development, as well as methods and models used to study this relationship.

The Earth's climate is constantly changing. Some of the changes are progressive, while others fluctuate at various time scales. The El Ni?o-la Ni?a cycle is one such fluctuation that recurs every few years and has far-reaching impacts. It generally appears at least once per decade, but this may vary with our changing climate. The exact frequency, sequence, duration and intensity of El Ni?o's manifestations, as well as its effects and geographic distributions, are highly variable. The El Ni?o-la Ni?a cycle is particularly challenging to study due to its many interlinked phenomena that occur in various locations around the globe. These worldwide teleconnections are precisely what makes studying El Ni?o-la Ni?a so important. Cynthia Rosenzweig and Daniel Hillel describe the current efforts to develop and apply a global-to-regional approach to climate-risk management. They explain how atmospheric and social scientists are cooperating with agricultural practitioners in various regions around the world to determine how farmers may benefit most from new climate predictions. Specifically, the emerging ability to predict the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle offers the potential to transform agricultural planning worldwide. Biophysical scientists are only now beginning to recognize the large-scale, globally distributed impacts of ENSO on the probabilities of seasonal precipitation and temperature regimes. Meanwhile, social scientists have been researching how to disseminate forecasts more effectively within rural communities. Consequently, as the quality of climatic predictions have improved, the dissemination and presentation of forecasts have become more effective as well. This book explores the growing understanding of the interconnectedness of climate predictions and productive agriculture for sustainable development, as well as methods and models used to study this relationship.

This book analyzes and elucidates the nature of predictable changes on the world's agricultural system caused by the so-called greenhouse effect. Its aim is to educate students at the undergraduate level about how the climatic factors affecting agriculture may be modified in the future, andwhat practical adaptations might be undertaken to prevent or overcome any possible adverse impacts on our ability to feed the world's population. The book draws on several complimentary disciplines, including atmospheric science, hydrology, soil science, crop physiology, and resource economics, andintegrates the relevant aspects of these fields.

This book presents a collection of articles concerning key topics which examine the impacts of climate change and variability on agriculture. The application region is the southeastern United States. The main topics include an investigation of the effect of variations in the spatial scale of climate change scenarios on an agricultural integrated assessment, methods of simulating adaptations of climate change, and the relationship between large scale climate variability and local climate and vegetation. This book will be very useful for researchers and policy makers involved in climate change impacts.

Publisher Description

This volume analyzes the global challenges of food security, land use changes, and climate change impacts on food production in order to recommend sustainable development policies, anticipate future food services and demands, and identify the economic benefits and trade-offs of meeting food security demands and achieving climate change mitigation objectives. The key points of analysis that form the conclusions of this book are based on measuring the quantity and quality of land and water resources, and the rate of use of sustainable management of these resources in the context of socio-economic factors, including food security, poverty, and climate change impacts. In six parts, readers will learn about these crucial dimensions of the affects of climate change on food security, and will gain a better understanding of how to assess the trade-offs when combating multiple climate change challenges and how to develop sustainable solutions to these problems. The book presents multidimensional perspectives from expert contributors, offering holistic and strategic approaches to link knowledge on climate change and food security with action in the form of policy recommendations, with a focus on sociological and socio-economic components of climate change impacts. The intended audience of the book includes students and researchers engaged in climate change and food security issues, NGOs, and policy makers.

"Joint Publication with the American Society of Agronomy."