ICEM climate scientists forecast dramatic changes in crops, fisheries and livestock production in Mekong countries
BANGKOK, THAILAND – 29 March 2013: A team of ICEM researchers today released the results from a study on climate change in the Lower Mekong Basin. A major finding in the study forecasts changes in temperature and rainfall altering the suitability for some important industrial and food crops in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“Our study is producing very surprising results. We’ve found that this region is going to experience climate extremes in temperature and rainfall beyond anything that we expected.”
ICEM was contracted by The Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project (Mekong ARCC) – to conduct the study, the first of its kind in the Mekong region, for USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA). The scientific team from ICEM looked at how changes in temperature and precipitation will affect growing conditions and yields for major crops like rice, maize, rubber, cassava, soya and coffee, as well as fisheries and livestock productivity. The study points to a number of “hotspots” around the region where climate change may have the strongest impact.
The region is highly dependent upon natural resources, with 70 percent of the basin’s 60 million people living as farmers and fishers, and highly vulnerable to changes in the climate and its impact on their livelihoods. The study represents the first step in the Mekong ARCC project’s effort to integrate science with local knowledge and help communities in the four countries prepare detailed local climate change adaptation assessments and plans for action. The study results will assist decision making and planning by government and business leaders in the four countries of the Lower Mekong Basin, which are exporters of crops like rubber, cassava and coffee.
Climate scientists generally agree that an average annual […]