Scientists Race to Save World's Rice Bowl From Climate Change

Ker Than

For National Geographic News

Published May 2, 2012

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120502-southeast-asia-climate-change/

Summary:

Scientists warn that global warming may could threaten rice farming and the livelihood of many people in Southeast Asia. Climatologists and researchers brainstormed ways to help the people in the region, especially farmers, deal with the effects of climate change. Some of the consequences of global warming include elevated temperatures, higher salt concentration in water, and irregular rainfall. Since a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry, and changes in land use, scientists also contemplated potential ways to use agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane.

Some areas aren’t experiencing drastic changes yet, and can be saved. For example, in the case of droughts, people may be able to use Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) technology. Basically, MAR captures and stores floodwater in natural underground aquifers. During droughts, the water can be pumped out. The MAR could also decrease the amount of destruction created by floods because it will divert water from already full rivers.

A different technology for solving this problem can also weaken the global impact of climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released by crops. This method is involves alternately flooding and drying rice fields to reduce the amount of methane produced. Normally, farmers leave their rice fields submerged for the whole season, but this makes a lot of methane. By drying the fields periodically, water consumption decreased by 30 percent and greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 25 to 50  percent, without any change in rice crop yields.

Though MAR and rice drying are both effective solutions, scientists must implement a variety of different methods to resolve the agricultural problems caused by global warming.

Connection:

This article connects to our unit on Ecology because it relates human activities altering ecosystems through agriculture, greenhouse gases, and global warming’s effect on the environment. It illustrates how melting of the glaciers and polar ice caps causes rising sea levels and flooding, which impacts agriculture and ecosystems. The article discusses how crops can generate greenhouse gases and in turn, contribute to global warming. It describes methods for lessening production of methane (rice drying). As we learned, with less greenhouse gas production, less heat will be trapped in the atmosphere, so there will be reduced warming of the Earth.