Climate change is set to have a significant impact on climate-sensitive sectors of national economies, such as agriculture. This report, published by the World Agroforestry Centre, discusses the challenges that climate change brings to smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia, and outlines adaptive measures that can be taken. It begins with a brief general discussion of climate change and moves on to describe the likely impacts for farmers. The following section highlights adaptive strategies available to small-scale farmers in the region.

Although it is not possible to state with confidence how climate change may alter precipitation patterns in Rwanda, it is clear that this process will affect the management and generation capacity of its hydroelectric sector in the future. The Government of Rwanda sought to restore the degraded Rugezi-Bulera- Ruhondo watershed by halting on-going drainage activities in the Rugezi Wetlands and banning agricultural and pastoral activities within and along its shores, as well as along the shores of Lakes Bulera and Ruhondo.

This policy brief discusses the issue of food security in relation to trade and the anticipated impacts of climate change within Southeast Asia. It begins by contextualizing the debate before examining the manner in which trade, climate change and food security are interlinked within the Mekong region. The brief goes onto examine Cambodia as a case study in order to establish lessons for other countries in the region.

In Morocco's Western High Atlas Mountains, Berber agropastoralists are oblivious to the ideological debate over land tenure occurring in the rangeland development community. Berber producers of sheep and goats use a continuum of tenure institutions, from private ownership, to communal control, to uncontrolled, open range. Far from being ideological opposites, these different types of land tenure are complementary tools.

New technology that enables sustainable and profitable production of food and fibre is critical for both food security and economic development. Whether framed in terms of modernisation, productivity enhancement, poverty reduction, social protection, environmental protection or adaptation to climate change, technical change is at the heart of most agricultural policy, programmes and projects. From a development perspective, a nagging question is why the benefits of new agricultural technology often appear to by-pass poorer farmers – even when they are the ‘target’ group.

Land use in much of North-East China in the 1930s has been reconstructed and compared with that of today. North-East China, which was once called Manchuria in Japan or elsewhere, was a place of invasion and colonization by Japan till the end of World War II. This region currently comprises of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang Province and Neimongol Autonomous Region (see Figure 1).

This report summarises current knowledge of the anticipated impacts of climate change on water availability for agriculture. It examines the implications for local and national food security and the methods and approaches for assessing climate change impacts on water and agriculture.

The valuation of resources found in the watershed area is important in assessing the impacts of changes in the watershed. While the change will have positive impacts which are short-term in nature, there are long-term environmental damages associated with economic benefits.

This paper gives a rational judgment on the soundness of such changes through cost and benefit analysis. The watershed approach is utilized to capture the effects that are relevant in the analysis.

[adapted from source]

This regional report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) highlights that, although urban slums are decreasing and urban innovations are being introduced, the Arab region still faces major challenges, including high youth unemployment rates and climate change. The report argues that climate change can increase competition over scarce resources, decrease food security, increase poverty and social instability, and accelerate environmental migration and militarisation over natural resources in the area.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Human Development Report (APHDR) focuses on the need for the region to find ways to continue to grow economically, while reducing poverty and tackling climate change and environmental concerns. The report addresses climate challenges facing small island developing states (SIDS) in the region with special attention given to the least developed countries (LDCs), including Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

This policy-brief examines a two year moratorium on new permits for primary natural forest and peat land that came into force in Indonesia on May 20th 2011. The brief aims to inform a range of decision-making actors in developing countries about the nature of improved forestry management in the face of a changing climate. It is asserted that the moratorium demonstrates progress in the areas of: data transparency, industry buy-in, political support and institutional co-ordination.

This report outlines how climate change is expected to have serious environmental, economic, and social impacts in South Africa. It states that rural farmers, whose livelihoods depend on the use of natural resources, are likely to bear the brunt of adverse impacts. The research uses a “bottom-up” approach to gain insights from the farmers themselves based on a farm household survey collected from 794 households in the Limpopo River Basin of South Africa for the farming season 2004–2005.