Climate Proofing of Farms Seen Too Slow as Industry Faces Havoc

Climate change will play havoc with farming, and policy makers and researchers aren’t fully aware of the significance on food supply, according to the World Bank.

Earth will warm by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) “in your lifetime,” Rachel Kyte, the World Bank’s vice-president for climate change, said at a meeting of agriculture ministers in Berlin over the weekend.  That will make farming untenable in some areas, she said.

“Significant damage and destruction is already happening,” Kyte said.  “It isn’t a benign and slightly warmer world.  It will be a volatile warming of the planet, with unpredictable impact.”

Adapting agriculture to withstand a world with a changed climate and depleting resources isn’t happening fast enough, according to Achim Steiner, the director general of the UN’s Environment Programme.

Climate Proofing of Farms Seen Too Slow as Industry Faces Havoc