Improved adaptation of food production, particularly in areas where climate variability is large, holds the key to improving food security for human populations. Increasing climate knowledge and improved prediction capabilities facilitate the development of relevant climate information and prediction products for applications in agriculture to reduce the negative impacts due to climate variations and to enhance planning activities based on the developing capacity of climate science.
This book, based on an International Workshop held in Geneva in 2005, reviews the advances made so far in seasonal climate predictions and their applications for management and decision-making in agriculture and identifies the challenges to be addressed in the next 5 to 10 years to further enhance operational applications of climate predictions in agriculture, especially in the developing countries.
Climate Prediction and Agriculture.- Climate Downscaling.- Development of a Combined Crop and Climate Forecasting System for Seasonal to Decadal Prediction.- Delivering Climate Forecast Products to Farmers.- Seasonal Predictions and Monitoring for Sahel Region.- Institutionalizing Climate Forecast Applications for Agriculture.- Climate Applications and Agriculture.- Climate Forecast Applications for Better Water Management in Agriculture.- Linking Corn Production, Climate Information and Farm-Level-Decision-Making.- Climate Prediction and Agriculture: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges from an Agricultural Development Perspective.- Conclusions and Recommendations.
From the reviews: "This volume aims to review advances made in seasonal climate predictions and applications for management and decision making in agriculture during the first five years of CLIMAG. ! This book will appeal particularly to researchers interested on societal impacts of climate variability, staff of national meteorological and hydrological services ! and agricultural experts and extension specialists who want to survey the current status of climate prediction for agriculture. ! helpful in a graduate seminar on climate affairs, climate/society interactions, or applied climatology." (Guillermo Podesta, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, February, 2009)