Climate prediction models suggest that agricultural productivity will be significantly affected in the future. The expected rise in average global temperature due to the higher release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and increased depletion of water resources with enhanced climate variability will be a serious threat to world food security. Moreover, there is an increase in the frequency and severity of long-lasting drought events over 1/3rd of the global landmass and five times increase in water demand deficits during the 21st century. The top three cereals, wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), and rice (Oryza sativa), are the major and staple food crops of most people across the world. To meet the food demand of the ever-increasing population, which is expected to increase by over 9 billion by 2050, there is a dire need to increase cereal production by approximately 70%. However, we have observed a dramatic decrease in area of fertile and arable land to grow these crops. This trend is likely to increase in the future. Therefore, this review article provides an extensive review on recent and future projected area and production, the growth requirements and greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential of the top three cereal crops, the effects of climate change on their yields, and the morphological, physiological, biochemical, and hormonal responses of plants to drought. We also discuss the potential strategies to tackle the effects of climate change and increase yields. These strategies include integrated conventional and modern molecular techniques and genomic approach, the implementation of agronomic best management (ABM) practices, and growing climate resilient cereal crops, such as millets. Millets are less resource-intensive crops and release a lower amount of greenhouse gases compared to other cereals. Therefore, millets can be the potential next-generation crops for research to explore the climate-resilient traits and use the information for the improvement of major cereals.
Hydropower, in which Nepal has comparative advantage, has a potential to contribute to Nepal’s energy security and sustainable development. The government of Nepal enacted the Hydropower Development Policy in 2001 (HDP-2001) as an overarching policy to coordinate all policies forthcoming in this sector. This paper has critically analysed HDP-2001 by applying the Ecosystem services-based Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) technique. The paper has evaluated peer-reviewed scholarly articles, secondary data, and government publications available in public domain. The strengths and weaknesses of the policy were analysed by applying seven specific indicators. The research indicates that HDP-2001 has been successful in overcoming some of the pertinent challenges in Nepalese hydroelectric industry, however, it also faces several limitations on account of climate change, economic dislocations, effective monitoring, ensuring competitiveness, delivering fair price to the consumers, and institutional governance issues. Designing a practical mitigation plan, while being aware of its limitations, could be helpful in minimizing the impact of these exogenous factors.
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