Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa

Climate change poses a serious threat to many countries, particularly to developing countries, which often have large sections of the population without resources to adapt to changes in their environment. One of the key ways in which climate change affects countries is its impact on agricultural pro...

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Main Authors: Hartley, Faaiqa, Gabriel, Sherwin, Cullis, James, Arndt, Channing
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142088
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author Hartley, Faaiqa
Gabriel, Sherwin
Cullis, James
Arndt, Channing
author_browse Arndt, Channing
Cullis, James
Gabriel, Sherwin
Hartley, Faaiqa
author_facet Hartley, Faaiqa
Gabriel, Sherwin
Cullis, James
Arndt, Channing
author_sort Hartley, Faaiqa
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Climate change poses a serious threat to many countries, particularly to developing countries, which often have large sections of the population without resources to adapt to changes in their environment. One of the key ways in which climate change affects countries is its impact on agricultural production. This paper extends the analysis by Cullis et al. (2015) by unpacking the impacts of climate change on crops and regions across South Africa. Furthermore, it looks at the impact of climate change on household food consumption and its implications for food security. The analysis suggests that, while the impacts of climate change are likely to be negative, the size of impacts can be highly variable, depending on the resulting climate. The largest range of vulnerability lies along the eastern coast of the country, where there is also the greatest poverty. Other regions, such as the Western Cape, show clear signs of declining production across the likely range of future potential climates, although some of these threats can be addressed through adaptation. Shifting to irrigated agriculture offsets some of the negative impacts on production but is insufficient to fully offset the decline in output. It also puts agriculture into increasing competition with other sectors, such as municipal and industrial water usage. Key crops, such as summer cereals, oilseeds and deciduous fruits, are negatively affected by climate change. Climate change negatively affects household welfare both nationally and sub-nationally, with certain parts of the country worse affected than others. Its impacts are through both the effect on household incomes and through higher food prices, which negatively affect household food consumption.
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spelling CGSpace1420882024-10-25T07:54:07Z Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa Hartley, Faaiqa Gabriel, Sherwin Cullis, James Arndt, Channing climate vulnerability households crops welfare agriculture risk prices climate change Climate change poses a serious threat to many countries, particularly to developing countries, which often have large sections of the population without resources to adapt to changes in their environment. One of the key ways in which climate change affects countries is its impact on agricultural production. This paper extends the analysis by Cullis et al. (2015) by unpacking the impacts of climate change on crops and regions across South Africa. Furthermore, it looks at the impact of climate change on household food consumption and its implications for food security. The analysis suggests that, while the impacts of climate change are likely to be negative, the size of impacts can be highly variable, depending on the resulting climate. The largest range of vulnerability lies along the eastern coast of the country, where there is also the greatest poverty. Other regions, such as the Western Cape, show clear signs of declining production across the likely range of future potential climates, although some of these threats can be addressed through adaptation. Shifting to irrigated agriculture offsets some of the negative impacts on production but is insufficient to fully offset the decline in output. It also puts agriculture into increasing competition with other sectors, such as municipal and industrial water usage. Key crops, such as summer cereals, oilseeds and deciduous fruits, are negatively affected by climate change. Climate change negatively affects household welfare both nationally and sub-nationally, with certain parts of the country worse affected than others. Its impacts are through both the effect on household incomes and through higher food prices, which negatively affect household food consumption. 2021-02-01 2024-05-22T12:09:56Z 2024-05-22T12:09:56Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142088 en Open Access Hartley, Faaiqa; Gabriel, Sherwin; Cullis, James; and Arndt, Channing. 2021. Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa. SA-TIED Working Paper 162. https://sa-tied.wider.unu.edu/article/climate-uncertainty-and-agricultural-vulnerability-south-africa
spellingShingle climate
vulnerability
households
crops
welfare
agriculture
risk
prices
climate change
Hartley, Faaiqa
Gabriel, Sherwin
Cullis, James
Arndt, Channing
Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title_full Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title_fullStr Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title_short Climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in South Africa
title_sort climate uncertainty and agricultural vulnerability in south africa
topic climate
vulnerability
households
crops
welfare
agriculture
risk
prices
climate change
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142088
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AT arndtchanning climateuncertaintyandagriculturalvulnerabilityinsouthafrica