Presentations
Mekong ARCC Climate Change Impact and Adaptation Study for Natural and Agricultural Systems
This presentation about the Mekong ARCC project was given by ICEM’s director Jeremy Carew-Reid at the World Bank-sponsored Second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 3-7 September 2012.
The presentation focuses on the Mekong ARCC assessments and findings regarding climate change threats to agriculture and subsistence livelihoods. It addresses the significant transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture in the region. Commercial cropping has doubled in the last 20 years, particularly with the growth in production of rubber and cassava. The presentation provides recommendations from the Mekong ARCC assessments focusing on food production, advocating that food production will need to grow by 25% in the next 15 years just to supply local populations. The presentation highlights ‘hot spots’ in terms of rainfall and temperature changes, and illustrates potential implications for the location of industrial and commercial crops. The presentation focuses on the Se San catchment area, and notes some key changes which have implications for rice cultivation in the context of more extreme flooding and sea level rise.