Agriculture et changement climatique: enjeux et solutions

Agriculture and Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions. According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is already having a significant impact on agriculture. Several models highlight the increasingly negative effects of increased temperatures on crop yields and livestock farming in developing countries. These impacts can be caused by negative physiological effects for plants and animals, which result from higher temperatures or the proliferation of pests and diseases caused by the latter. The increased number of extreme weather events, especially floods, and changing precipitation patterns are linked to climate changes. These factors dramatically affect the crop production potential of agricultural land. Populations in the developing world, which are already vulnerable and exposed to food insecurity, are the most seriously affected. In many countries in the southern hemisphere, agriculture actually represents the main source of income for a major proportion of the active population. Combined with increased demographic pressure, climate changes therefore help to exacerbate the pressure on global food systems. In addition, it should be noted that agriculture also plays a key role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and is therefore at the heart of a variety of complex issues. In light of these facts, it is essential that we make every effort to identify solutions, aimed at adapting to climate changes and alleviating the contribution of certain agricultural practices to the latter, in order to respond to all the challenges that they create. This involves reinforcing research initiatives aimed at understanding and quantifying the problems, while identifying steps that need to be taken in order to limit these problems. It also involves lobbying for appropriate policies to be put into place, based on the results of this research. Last but not least, it involves developing field projects in order to identify and promote appropriate farming practices and create conditions that will help them become more widespread. With this in mind, we welcome the Montpellier Declaration initiative (http://csa2015.cirad.fr), which was developed at the Third Global Science Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture (Climate Smart Agriculture 2015) that was held in this city on 16-18 March 2015. At this event, over 600 research scientists and 150 stakeholders/policy makers - from 75 countries and 5 continents – confirmed that climate smart agriculture has become a benchmark, which creates synergies and may lead to innovative and global solutions at local, regional and international level. The participants also confirmed that climate smart solutions exist and could become a reality if the conditions and public policies lend themselves to these solutions. We encourage all readers of Tropicultura to learn more about the work completed at this conference, in order to understand issues linked to climate change and identify sources of inspiration, so that we can overcome the constraints that it imposes