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TechnoratiExpert Says Rising Sea Levels Pose Threat to Rice
MANILA - Rising sea levels triggered by climate change pose an "ominous" threat to some of the world's most productive rice-growing areas, the International Rice Research Institute has warned.
The Philippines-based institution is devoting fresh efforts to mitigating the coming threat, but senior climate scientist Reiner Wassman said adequate funding had yet to materialise.
"Some of Asia's most important rice-growing areas are located in low-lying deltas, which play a vital role in regional food security and supplying export markets," Wassman told the IRRI magazine Rice Today.
"With Vietnam so dependent on rice grown in and around low-lying river deltas, the implications of a sea-level rise are ominous indeed."
Rice is the staple cereal of nearly half the world's 6.6 billion people.
Wassman said the impact of global warming on the key cereal would depend on the patterns of change in rice-growing regions.
But he warned a threatened rise of between 10 and 85 centimetres (four to 34 inches) in sea levels over the next century could have "enormous" impacts on some countries, including key rice exporter Vietnam.
IRRI is cooperating with Hanoi to assess the impact of sea-level rise scenarios in the Mekong delta, he said.
The organisation this year launched a project to assess the possible impact of climate change on rice output and find ways of adapting rice-growing to the new realities of global warming.
He said higher temperatures could decrease rice yields, and that the organisation would initially focus on improving the resilience of rice to heat through research on plant physiology.
Aside from the sea-level rise threat to areas such as the Mekong delta, Wassman said more frequent or more intense droughts, cyclones and heat waves posed "incalculable threats to agricultural production."
But he said the IRRI was optimistic it would be able to develop new varieties that could cope with higher temperatures.
Scientists are also confident that the resilience of rice production systems to climate extremes, such as floods and droughts, can be improved, he said.
However, he warned it was unclear to what extent the impact of higher sea levels could be compensated for, and what the costs and socioeconomic consequences of any such changes would be.
The magazine said an increase in carbon dioxide concentration could actually improve rice yields.
However, funding constraints have prevented scientists from studying the issue under realistic conditions even though the technology is now available, it said.
Copyright © AFP 2007
10 Comments so far
Show AllPerhaps they should plan ahead for a national endeavor,and with Viet Nams cheap labor, take lessons from the Dutch, build sea walls, the idea is not new, and it is very effective. WE don't have to keep running away from the problem,we can face the possibilities and plan for them.
I'm not a geologist but wouldn't a rise in the ocean levels relocate or reconfigure existing deltas and form new deltas where once there were none? This world is ever changeing, let's change with it. A-Man..LM
In all seriousness, global warming is perhaps a far more serious issue than most realize. There is a very recent scientific report which is most disturbng. It seems that there are millons of tons of methane gas locked up in the permafrost of the Arctic.
WHEN the permafrost thaws, and it is now begining to thaw, the methane gas will enter our atmosphere. When that happens, global warming will shift into overdrive and within a year or two the ice caps will be history; sea levels will rise "80 feet", dramatic climate change will occur and Earth will be a totally new planet as far as humanity is concerned. The release of the methane may begin in less than four years at the current rate of warming.
So, we can joke now about the rice, we won't be joking if the Arctic permafrost melts.
Don't we just hate pessimism?___Sadly, it's often a good definition for the word___ reality.
Sorry Bill, I'm up to my ears in editing three novels and that work is most difficult, as I have to use a magnifing glass to read and am now experiencing vision problems in my good eye.
For the past two months I've taken a break from editing to just have fun here at this website. Tell ya what, if and when Bush and Cheney are out of office, I'll send you my e-mail address; if your book is still in a draft format, I'll be delighted to review it,___ no charge.
I don't know if you are a published author. If not, draft format usually means at least twenty re-writes. It is not at all easy to write a book and have it written well enough for a publisher to take interest.
You certainly can write and you display a high degree of intellect. I've noticed that attribute for many on this website. Of course we don't spend much time editing and comments are at times a bit crude and because of that we sometimes tend to confuse the issues.
BTW, I believe you are a nice person and very honest. Thank you very much for the offer, Take Care, Kem
Sea Walls? Not with a rise of sea water up to 80 feet in less than two years. Sorry, Holland will be gone, along with a lot of other places, like Vietnam, Indonesia, more than half of Japan, our entire Eastern and Gulf coasts. etc. Once that Arctic Permafrost melts, it will happen.
Evelyn,
Hi. I have a request of you. I have a book I have written that I would like you to review. It is still in draft stage and has not been submitted for publication. Your comments would be valuable to me. I recognize you disagree with me on a broad spectrum of nuclear issues; that is why I would value your perspective. If you will send me your e-mail I will send it to you electronically. My e-mail is: Wyoung3835ataoldotcom. Thanks. Bill Young (posting as Billy_y4)
Hey, stop dissin' global warming. I'm waiting for that 25 meter rise in sealevel discussed here: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2007/07/03/a-sudden-change-of-state/
Then I'll have waterfront property on the new Willamette Sound in Oregon. I can't wait to watch from my front porch as the orcas frolic in the salt water.
Rats
Gotta love the delusions.
"The magazine said an increase in carbon dioxide concentration could actually improve rice yields."
Yah, sure, it probably would. Of course there wouldn't be anyone left to eat the damned stuff.
Don't sweat it, we will be growing rice in Harrisburg, Pa and Knoxvile, Tenn when the flooding ends.
All over south Georgia, and Eastern New Mexico and all along the shallow sea that was once the Great Plains.... probably all the way up into Canada too. Don't worry, Canada will become the worlds largest rice grower and Louisiana will be under water with Floriday, most of Alabama and all of Mississippi. Maybe Global warming will be as nice as it sounds after all.