Shifts in rainfall patterns due to climate change increase agricultural risk: UN report

Extreme weather and political stability are increasing risk for agricultural producers while inadequate treatment of wastewater is having a negative impact on rivers, lakes and coastal waters, a United Nations agency suggested in a report released this Friday.

“Phenomena such as extreme weather events and market volatility, as well as civil strife and political instability, impair the productivity and stability of agriculture, which in turn increases uncertainty and risks for producers,” according to the United National Water Development Report 2015, titled Water for a Sustainable World. “The social impacts of rapid food price inflation have hit the poorest hardest. Improving the resilience of water users to shocks and extreme events is a vital part of an effective coping strategy.”

That report – financed by the government of Italy and the Umbria region – was published by the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on behalf of UN-Water, which coordinates among UN agencies for freshwater and sanitation matters.

The report includes a section on improving resilience in the agricultural sector.

“Climate change brings additional risks and further unpredictability of harvests for farmers, fishers and herders due to warming and related aridity, shifts in rainfall patterns, and the frequency and duration of extreme events,” according to the report.

The report’s lead author is Richard Connor of the UN World Water Assessment Programme.

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Water for a Sustainable World also includes a section on rural livelihoods and social well-being.

“There is general recognition that the current performance of the irrigation sector is often environmentally unsustainable, and that the level of service delivery is, on the whole, inadequate to meet the poorest farmers’ needs to generate sufficient income for a dignified livelihood, let alone their future requirements,” according to the report. “Modernizing large scale irrigation systems should allow for farm size consolidation, rendering them highly reliable, flexible and service oriented.”

The report “illustrates the complex linkages between water and critical areas such as human health, food and energy security, urbanization, industrial growth and climate change,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote in the forward. “It also describes the status of the world’s water resources, including an overview of the impacts of unsustainable growth on freshwater resources, and suggests possible responses to these challenges.”

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One project in East Africa detailed in the report, titled Strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation in land and water management, was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), aimed to identify appropriate technologies that decrease crop and livestock production risk in East Africa.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘no regret options’ for climate change adaptation (i.e. options that increase the resilience of communities, not only to climate change but to any type of shock) have the highest probability of success both in the short and in the long term,” according to Water for a Sustainable World. “In the Wurba watershed, Shoa Robit Woreda Ethiopia, measures were implemented to retain the surface runoff in the uplands and improve water-holding capacity of the soil. These measures increase groundwater recharge and also protect the top soil. The measures consisted of hillside terraces with trenches, stone check dams on hillsides, cut-off drains, trenches and micro-basins.”

The report “sets both an aspirational and a realistic vision for the future of water towards 2050,” UNESCO director general Irina Bokova wrote. “Water is inextricably linked to the development of all societies and cultures. at the same time, this development also places considerable pressure on water resources – agriculture, energy and industry all have impacts on the use and governance of water.”