Most climate change models predict that this global phenomenon will have severe impacts on small farmers, particularly in developing countries. Increasing temperatures, droughts, heavy precipitation and other extreme climatic events could reduce yields by up to 50 percent in some regions, especially in drylands.

This report examines the development dilemma that India faces. India has an extremely large economy and a rapid rate of economic growth, so will emit large amounts of GHG. However, the population overall is very poor, and development will require access to basic energy services; meanwhile the Government is Very nervous of taking on costly decarbonisation commitments.

Agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Greenpeace's new report Cool Farming details the destructive practices resulting from industrial agriculture and presents workable solutions to help reduce its contribution to climate change. These practical changes will benefit the environment as well as farmers and consumers throughout the world. This report details for the first time all direct and indirect contribution agriculture has on climate change.

This report reviews the terrestrial Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), which are endorsed by the UNFCCC and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Details are provided on why these observations are needed to understand the causes of climate change, analyse the potential impacts, evaluate the adaptation options and enable characterization of extreme events such as floods, droughts and heat waves.

Several studies addressing the supply and demand for food in China suggest that the nation can largely meet its needs in the coming decades. However, these studies do not consider the effects of climate change. This paper examines whether near future expected changes in climate are likely to alter this picture. The authors analyze the effect of temperature and precipitation on net crop revenues using a cross section consisting of both rainfed and irrigated farms.

The paper begins by laying out the current state of global food insecurity and malnutrition, including magnitude, trends and future projections. The causes, consequences and costs of food insecurity and malnutrition are explored. Malnutrition is clearly a severe impediment to sustainable development and human security as it slows down economic growth and the achievement of equity. The paper briefly lays out a number of factors besides climate change, bioenergy and rising prices that will likely contribute to malnutrition in the future.