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Climate Change and Agriculture: an Economic Analysis of Global Impacts, Adaptation and Distributional Effects. By R. Mendelsohn and A. Dinar. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar (2009), pp. 256, £53.96 (online discount price). ISBN 978-1-84720-670-1.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2010

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Abstract

Type
Book Review
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

This book, by US authors whose papers dominate the references, derives from World Bank-funded research on how farmers will be able to adapt to climate change. Following introductory chapters reviewing agronomy and modelling, several ‘Ricardian’ approaches (based on land values or net revenues) are applied, mainly to the USA, Africa, Latin America and China, using two climate scenarios for 2100, one (PCM) moderate, the other (CCC or HAD3) severe. As well as the developed/developing-country distinction, the analysis distinguishes where possible between rain-fed and irrigation agriculture, between crops (sometimes staple and other) and livestock, and between small and large farms. The broad nature of the results is by now familiar (e.g. lesser impacts in developed countries than in developing ones), but the level of detail here is considerable, and the scope for local adaptations by farmers and others (e.g. water authorities, scientists, advisors) is stressed. Some broad implications are drawn (e.g. there is no analysis of global agri-food production or trade, nor of farmers’ reactions to GHG emission limits or trading), but further research on the links between agriculture and both water and health is urged. A more comprehensive approach, using the IPCC A2 scenario for 2050, appears in Nelson et al., Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and the Costs of Adaptation, IFPRI, 2009.