SOURCE: UNENVIRONMENT
Hundreds of millions of people in Asia and Africa rely on
rice not only as a staple but as their main source of nutrition. But new
research suggests the rice they eat will become less nutritious due to rising
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
The study found that rice exposed to elevated levels of
carbon dioxide contains lower amounts of several important nutrients. Currently, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
average around 410 parts per million, up from 350 parts per million in the
1980s, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels.
The researchers, a New York
Times article explains, looked at how crops responded to levels of around 580
parts per million, which could prove tough to avoid this century without
drastic changes.
Farmers attending to their Rice garden , the study Indicates that global warming may affects the nutrients level |
The research involved exposing experimental rice fields in
China and Japan to the same elevated levels of carbon dioxide that are expected
to occur worldwide later this century.
What did the study
find?
“A strong correlation between the impacts of elevated CO2 on
vitamin content based on the molecular fraction of nitrogen within the vitamin
was observed,” says the study.
“Potential health risks associated with anticipated
CO2-induced deficits of protein, minerals, and vitamins in rice were correlated
to the lowest overall gross domestic product per capita for the highest
rice-consuming countries, suggesting potential consequences for a global
population of approximately 600 million,” it concludes.
“We used multiyear, multilocation in situ FACE (free-air CO2
enrichment) experiments for 18 genetically diverse rice lines, including
Japonica, Indica, and hybrids currently grown throughout Asia,” the authors
write.
“While these CO2 enrichment experiments do indicate the
threat climate change poses to nutrition security, rice breeding programmes
across the world all breed and select under conditions of increasing CO2 and
many are cognizant of the need to maintain and increase nutrient concentration
in newly released rice varieties,” says Oliver Frith, Head of Business
Development at the International Rice Research Institute.
Challenges ahead
Rice is the primary food source for 3.5 billion people, and
production will need to increase significantly by 2050 to meet global demand.
One challenge is the likely scarcity of water for rice production due to
competing demands for water, environmental degradation and the effects of
climate change.
Another conundrum for policymakers is that rice also
accounts for 9-11 per cent of global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse
gas. This could be significant, given that for every one billion people added
to the global population, an additional 100 million tons of rice needs to be
produced every year.
Atmospheric methane (CH4) is recognized as one of the most
important greenhouse gases and may account for 20 per cent of anticipated
global warming.
“We know that higher concentrations of atmospheric CO2 can
lead to significant reductions in the amount of zinc, iron and protein in
staple crops like rice,” says Montira Pongsiri, former
Commissioner of the
Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health.
“Particularly in
Asia-Pacific, this has important implications for nutritional security – in
fact, this is a nutritional insecurity issue for Asia-Pacific communities.”
UN Environment’s rice
work
In October 2017 UN Environment and the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) signed a partnership agreement to promote
climate-smart and innovative technologies for rice production in developing
countries.
Furthermore, the proposed Global Environment Facility (GEF)
programme Inclusive Sustainable Rice Landscapes - securing multiple
environmental benefits and improved farmer welfare is under development by a
multi-stakeholder consortium led by UN Environment and the Food and Agriculture
Organization, in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development.
“The programme builds on the efforts of the Sustainable Rice
Platform – hosted by UN Environment, and its 87 institutional members to work
with governments and value chain actors at landscape level to drive adoption of
proven climate-smart best practices and innovative technologies to reduce the
environment footprint of the sector, as well as to benefit farmers’ welfare,”
says UN Environment ecosystems expert Max Zieren.
No comments:
Post a Comment