Publication: Climate Change Impacts on Agricultural Yields
Loading...
Files in English
2,166 downloads
Published
2010
ISSN
Date
2012-06-26
Editor(s)
Abstract
Projections of future crop yields are highly uncertain. At global to regional scale, CO2 fertilization has the potential to generally increase crop yields on current crop land. However, it is highly unlikely that yield increases due to CO2 fertilization will be fully achieved in most regions, as long term positive effects are subject to scientific debate and increased yield levels require also adaptations in management. Differences in climate patterns are a major source of uncertainty in local and national yield projections, as especially precipitation patterns differ considerably between GCMs. The range of modeled impacts on yields therefore is only an indication on the locations susceptibility to climate change and for the necessity of adaptation measures. Future food demand will only be met if improved management and technological change will be able to increase crop yields considerably or if agricultural land is expanded. Even the most optimistic projections on future crop yields lead to decreasing food self-sufficiency ratios in most regions.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Müller, Christoph; Bondeau, Alberte; Popp, Alexander; Waha, Katharina; Fader, Marianela. 2010. Climate Change Impacts on Agricultural Yields. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9065 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Climate Change Impacts on Agricultural Water Stress and Impact Mitigation Potential(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)Food production is strongly water-limited in many regions, reflecting the fact that under dry conditions the amount of water in the soil is not sufficient to sustain optimal plant growth. This paper provides a geographically explicit quantification of a) the current (1971-2000 average) blue and green water consumption in global agriculture; b) the current and possible future (2041-2070 average) water limitations to crop production; and c) the potential to mitigate this limitation through rainwater harvesting and vapor shift management strategies.Publication The Inter-Linkages between Rapid Growth in Livestock Production, Climate Change, and the Impacts on Water Resources, Land Use, and Deforestation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)Livestock systems globally are changing rapidly in response to a variety of drivers. Human population growth, rapid urbanization, and growing incomes will lead to substantial increases in the demand for livestock products in the coming decades. Meeting this increased demand may put substantial pressure on a wide range of natural resources such as land and water. Together with climate change and increasing climate variability, these drivers of change add up to a formidable set of development challenges for developed as well as developing countries. The paper discusses the linkages between the burgeoning demand for livestock products, the subsequent growth in livestock production, and the impacts that this may have on natural resources, as well as how these may both affect, and be affected by, climate change in the coming decades.Publication Review and Quantitative Analysis of Indices of Climate Change Exposure, Adaptive Capacity, Sensitivity, and Impacts(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)Adaptation to climate change is necessary, in addition to mitigation of climate change, to avoid unacceptable impacts of anthropogenic climate change [IPCC 2007]. UNFCCC Article 4 requires developed countries to assist developing countries that are "particularly vulnerable" to climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to its adverse effects. As a result, three funds have been established under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol to provide financial resources for assessing, planning, and implementing adaptation measures in developing countries. Further adaptation funding is provided bilaterally and by multilateral institutions including the World Bank. The ambiguous and imprecise language used in the UNFCCC does not provide operational definitions for key concepts, including the identification of "particularly vulnerable" countries. This document discusses how science-based indicators of vulnerability to climate change and of adaptability can inform the prioritization of adaptation assistance from a global adaptation fund.Publication Assessing the Financial Vulnerability to Climate-Related Natural Hazards(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)There is increased concern about the rising costs from weather extremes. For financially vulnerable countries, there are three main implications: (i) efforts to reduce risk need to be seriously stepped up in order to reduce the serious human and financial burdens to the affected population, business and fiscal stance; (ii) there is a case for country risk aversion implying that disaster risks faced by some governments cannot be absorbed without major difficulty; (iii) without exception, all financially vulnerable countries due to their development status are very unlikely to be able to implement pre-disaster risk financing instruments themselves. In order to reduce their financial vulnerability by their own means, they require technical and financial assistance from the donor community.Publication A Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)This paper proposes an alternative approach to addressing the complex problems of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The author, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, argues that single policies adopted only at a global scale are unlikely to generate sufficient trust among citizens and firms so that collective action can take place in a comprehensive and transparent manner that will effectively reduce global warming. Furthermore, simply recommending a single governmental unit to solve global collective action problems is inherently weak because of free-rider problems. For example, the Carbon Development Mechanism (CDM) can be 'gamed' in ways that hike up prices of natural resources and in some cases can lead to further natural resource exploitation. Some flaws are also noticeable in the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) program. Both the CDM and REDD are vulnerable to the free-rider problem. As an alternative, the paper proposes a polycentric approach at various levels with active oversight of local, regional, and national stakeholders. Efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are a classic collective action problem that is best addressed at multiple scales and levels. Given the slowness and conflict involved in achieving a global solution to climate change, recognizing the potential for building a more effective way of reducing green house gas emissions at multiple levels is an important step forward. A polycentric approach has the main advantage of encouraging experimental efforts at multiple levels, leading to the development of methods for assessing the benefits and costs of particular strategies adopted in one type of ecosystem and compared to results obtained in other ecosystems. Building a strong commitment to find ways of reducing individual emissions is an important element for coping with this problem, and having others also take responsibility can be more effectively undertaken in small- to medium-scale governance units that are linked together through information networks and monitoring at all levels.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication World Development Report 1994(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)World Development Report 1994, the seventeenth in this annual series, examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance. This report includes the World Development Indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics for 132 countries.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.