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Evidence of Observed Climate Impacts on Agricultural Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

This visualization outlines the number of studies found related to the impacts of temperature, precipitation or both on biophysical pathways and systems including variable or changing growing seasons, plant species distribution, extreme events, crop yield and biotic stressors. The numbers in each column refer to the number of sources that report each climate driver or impact to agriculture. These studies were found through a review of relevant documents cited in Kilroy (2015), references included in the IPCC draft Special Report on Food Security, and targeted searches from 2015 – present for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Searches were conducted for temperature and precipitation effects on five biophysical pathways and systems including on crop and livestock yields, land and soil (e.g. cover and quality, soil moisture, etc.), water (e.g. salinization, changing water table, etc.), variable and changing growing seasons, and extreme events and biotic stressors. This initial review focused on observed or measured biophysical changes and excluded documents focused on adaptation.

See also EPAR Technical Report #386: Climate Impacts on Systems that Support Smallholder Farmers 

By David Coomes

Summarizing research by C. Leigh Anderson, Alison Cullen, David Coomes, Elan Ebeling, Nina Forbes, Adam Hayes, Namrata Kolla, and Emma Weaver