Impatti, adattamento e vulnerabilita Le cause e le responsabilita dei cambiamenti climatici sono state trattate sul numero di ottobre della rivista Cda. Approfondiamo l’argomento presentando il documento: “Cambiamenti climatici 2007: impatti, adattamento e vulnerabilita” votato ad aprile 2007 dal secondo gruppo di lavoro del Comitato Intergovernativo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Si tratta del secondo di tre documenti che compongono il quarto rapporto sui cambiamenti climatici.

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Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

A review of drought concepts

An overview of APSIM, a model designed for farming systems simulation

The synchronization of chaotic systems

The strong trends in climate change already evident, the likelihood of further changes occurring, and the increasing scale of potential climate impacts give urgency to addressing agricultural adaptation more coherently. There are many potential adaptation options available for marginal change of existing agricultural systems, often variations of existing climate risk management. We show that implementation of these options is likely to have substantial benefits under moderate climate change for some cropping systems. However, there are limits to their effectiveness under more severe climate changes. Hence, more systemic changes in resource allocation need to be considered, such as targeted diversification of production systems and livelihoods. We argue that achieving increased adaptation action will necessitate integration of climate change-related issues with other risk factors, such as climate variability and market risk, and with other policy domains, such as sustainable development. Dealing with the many barriers to effective adaptation will require a comprehensive and dynamic policy approach covering a range of scales and issues, for example, from the understanding by farmers of change in risk profiles to the establishment of efficient markets that facilitate response strategies. Science, too, has to adapt. Multidisciplinary problems require multidisciplinary solutions, i.e., a focus on integrated rather than disciplinary science and a strengthening of the interface with decision makers. A crucial component of this approach is the implementation of adaptation assessment frameworks that are relevant, robust, and easily operated by all stakeholders, practitioners, policymakers, and scientists.

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Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change

THE El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a quasi-periodic interannual variation in global atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns, known to be correlated with variations in the global pattern of rainfall1–3. Good predictive models for ENSO, if they existed, would allow accurate prediction of global rainfall variations, thus leading to better management of world agricultural production4,5, as well as improving profits and reducing risks for farmers6,7. But our current ability to predict ENSO variation is limited. Here we describe a probabilistic rainfall 'forecasting' system that does not require ENSO predictive ability, but is instead based on the identification of lag-relationships between values of the Southern Oscillation Index, which provides a quantitative measure of the phase of the ENSO cycle, and future rainfall. The system provides rainfall probability distributions three to six months in advance for regions worldwide, and is simple enough to be incorporated into management systems now.

Prediction of global rainfall probabilities using phases of the Southern Oscillation Index

Climate variability and change affects individuals and societies. Within agricultural systems, seasonal climate forecasting can increase preparedness and lead to better social, economic and environmental outcomes. However, climate forecasting is not the panacea to all our problems in agriculture. Instead, it is one of many risk management tools that sometimes play an important role in decision-making. Understanding when, where and how to use this tool is a complex and multi-dimensional problem. To do this effectively, we suggest a participatory, cross-disciplinary research approach that brings together institutions (partnerships), disciplines (e.g., climate science, agricultural systems science, rural sociology and many other disciplines) and people (scientist, policy makers and direct beneficiaries) as equal partners to reap the benefits from climate knowledge. Climate science can provide insights into climatic processes, agricultural systems science can translate these insights into management options and rural sociology can help determine the options that are most feasible or desirable from a socio-economic perspective. Any scientific breakthroughs in climate forecasting capabilities are much more likely to have an immediate and positive impact if they are conducted and delivered within such a framework. While knowledge and understanding of the socio-economic circumstances is important and must be taken into account, the general approach of integrated systems science is generic and applicable in developed as well as in developing countries. Examples of decisions aided by simulation output ranges from tactical crop management options, commodity marketing to policy decisions about future land use. We also highlight the need to better understand temporal- and spatial-scale variability and argue that only a probabilistic approach to outcome dissemination should be considered. We demonstrated how knowledge of climatic variability (CV), can lead to better decisions in agriculture, regardless of geographical location and socio-economic conditions.

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Seasonal and Inter-Annual Climate Forecasting: The New Tool for Increasing Preparedness to Climate Variability and Change in Agricultural Planning and Operations

The traditional reductionist approach to science has a tendency to create 'islands of knowledge in a sea of ignorance', with a much stronger focus on analysis of scientific inputs rather than synthesis of socially relevant outcomes. This might be the principal reason why intended end users of climate information generally fail to embrace what the climate science community has to offer. The translation of climate information into real-life action requires 3 essential components: salience (the perceived relevance of the information), credibility (the perceived technical quality of the information) and legitimacy (the perceived objectivity of the process by which the information is shared). We explore each of these components using 3 case studies focused on dryland cropping in Australia, India and Brazil. In regards to 'salience' we discuss the challenge for climate science to be 'policy-relevant', using Australian drought policy as an example. In a village in southern India 'credibility' was gained through engagement between scientists and risk managers with the aim of building social capital, achieved only at high cost to science institutions. Finally, in Brazil we found that 'legitimacy' is a fragile, yet renewable resource that needs to be part of the package for successful climate applications; legitimacy can be easily eroded but is difficult to recover. We conclude that climate risk management requires holistic solutions derived from cross-disciplinary and participatory, user-oriented research. Approaches that combine climate, agroecological and socioeconomic models provide the scientific capabilities for establishment of 'borderless' institutions without disciplinary constraints. Such institutions could provide the necessary support and flexibility to deliver the social benefits of climate science across diverse contexts. Our case studies show that this type of solution is already being applied, and suggest that the climate science community attempt to address existing institutional constraints, which still impede climate risk management.

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Actionable climate knowledge: from analysis to synthesis

In Australia, and particularly in the northern part of the grain belt, wheat is grown in an extremely variable climate. The wheat crop manager in this region is faced with complex decisions on choice of planting time, varietal development pattern, and fertiliser strategy. A skilful seasonal forecast would provide an opportunity for the manager to tailor crop management decisions more appropriately to the season. Recent developments in climate research have led to the development of a number of seasonal climate forecasting systems. The objectives of this study were to determine the value of the capability in seasonal forecasting to wheat crop management, to compare the value of the existing forecast methodologies, and to consider the potential value of improved forecast quality. We examined decisions on nitrogen (N) fertiliser and cultivar maturity using simulation analyses of specific production scenarios at a representative location (Goondiwindi) using long-term daily weather data (1894-1989). The average profit and risk of making a loss were calculated for the possible range of fixed (i.e. the same every year) and tactical (i.e. varying depending on seasonal forecast) strategies. Significant increase in profit (up to 20%) and/or reduction in risk (up to 35%) were associated with tactical adjustment of crop management of N fertiliser or cultivar maturity. The forecasting system giving greatest value was the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) phase system of Stone and Auliciems (1992), which classifies seasons into 5 phases depending on the value and rate of change in the SOI. The significant skill in this system for forecasting both seasonal rainfall and frost timing generated the value found in tactical management of N fertiliser and cultivar maturity. Possible impediments to adoption of tactical management, associated with uncertainties in forecasting individual years, are discussed. The scope for improving forecast quality and the means to achieve it are considered by comparing the value of tactical management based on SO1 phases with the outcome given perfect prior knowledge of the season. While the analyses presented considered only one decision at a time, used specific scenarios, and made a number of simplifying assumptions, they have demonstrated that the current skill in seasonal forecasting is sufficient to justify use in tactical management of crops. More comprehensive studies to examine sensitivities to location, antecedent conditions, and price structure, and to assumptions made in this analysis, are now warranted. We have examined decisions related only to management of wheat. It would be appropriate to pursue similar analyses in relation to management decisions for other crops, cropping sequences, and the whole farm enterprise mix.

The value of skill in seasonal climate forecasting to wheat crop management in a region with high climatic variability

Phases of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) have been identified using cluster analysis. The monthly phases are associated with amounts of rainfall expressed in terms of probability distributions for various locations in eastern Australia. The phase representing rapid rise in SOI indicates above median rainfall during Southern Hemisphere autumn and spring at the locations analysed. The phase representing consistently positive SOI generally corresponds with above median rainfall amounts while the phase representing consistently negative SOI corresponds with below median rainfall amounts. As SOI phases relate to actual rainfall amounts, expressed in terms of probability distributions, the phases have, for instance, direct application to agricultural decision support programmes.

Roger Stone

Papers

Prediction of global rainfall probabilities using phases of the Southern Oscillation Index

Seasonal and Inter-Annual Climate Forecasting: The New Tool for Increasing Preparedness to Climate Variability and Change in Agricultural Planning and Operations

Actionable climate knowledge: from analysis to synthesis

The value of skill in seasonal climate forecasting to wheat crop management in a region with high climatic variability

SOI phase relationships with rainfall in eastern Australia