Sustainability of Coastal Agriculture under Climate Change

Abstract

Climatic and non-climatic stressors, such as temperature increases, rainfall fluctuations, population growth and migration, pollution, land-use changes and inadequate gender-specific strategies, are major challenges to coastal agricultural sustainability. In this paper, we discuss all pertinent issues related to the sustainability of coastal agriculture under climate change. It is evident that some climate-change-related impacts (e.g., temperature and rainfall) on agriculture are similarly applicable to both coastal and non-coastal settings, but there are other factors (e.g., inundation, seawater intrusion, soil salinity and tropical cyclones) that particularly impact coastal agricultural sustainability. Coastal agriculture is characterised by low-lying and saline-prone soils where spatial competition with urban growth is an ever-increasing problem. We highlight how coastal agricultural viability could be sustained through blending farmer perceptions, adaptation options, gender-specific participation and integrated coastal resource management into policy ratification. This paper provides important aspects of the coastal agricultural sustainability, and it can be an inspiration for further research and coastal agrarian planning.

Root angle modifications by the DRO1 homolog improve rice yields in saline paddy fields

“…Since salinity is a major abiotic stress that is expected to impact negatively on an estimated 50% of all arable soils worldwide by 2050 (47), our work suggests that global food production could be improved by selecting for RSAs that can avoid the damage caused by saline conditions (10). Saltwater intrusions and waterlogging in coastal regions due to sea level rise and cyclones, which will be exacerbated by climate change, threaten crop productivity worldwide (48). In the case of paddy rice, which is a staple food in those swampy regions, qsor1 could prove to be a valuable breeding target to improve yields in saline paddy fields.…”

Assessing the Vulnerability of Agriculture Systems to Climate Change in Coastal Areas: A Novel Index

“…The majority of the existing studies on coastal agricultural vulnerability focus on other parts of the world [13,25,56]. Further, the limited existing work on coastal agricultural vulnerability both in India [14,15] and globally [18,25] seldom uses primary data and a combination of qualitative, quantitative and spatial methods. Second, much of the existing literature on both agricultural vulnerability [36,41,42] and coastal vulnerability [52,57] tend to neglect to analyse a combination of climatic and social perspectives.…”

“…As shown in Figure 13, more than 48 percent of cells were rated as having very high vulnerability (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), and 19 percent of the cells were rated as highly vulnerable (16)(17)(18). In addition, only six percent of the cells were found to be moderately vulnerable (12)(13)(14)(15). The overall CVI scores clearly indicated that 67 percent of cells have either extremely high or high agricultural vulnerability in the selected 22 case study areas in Coastal Andhra Pradesh (Krishna and Guntur districts).…”

“…To cater for the needs of this population, many of the coastal environments across the world have been altered for agricultural purposes [10]. Therefore, low-lying agricultural land is highly vulnerable to severe soil salinity, storm surge, coastal erosion and stagnant flood water problems [11][12][13][14]. Simultaneously, the rapid and overwhelming changes to the climatic environment and associated factors have intensified the vulnerability of agricultural production in coastal areas [15][16][17][18].…”

Modeling and Mapping of Soil Salinity and its Impact on Paddy Lands in Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka

“…In addition, we have also found that a number of human resettlements established after the civil war were in areas very close to the coast. This increasing population along the coastal fringes of Jaffna Peninsula will further increase the vulnerability of the paddy lands in the coastal lowlands to salinization [55]. The subsequent construction of more new wells and the over-extraction of groundwater is likely to increase seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers [27].…”