Rice
Rice is a very important food for over three billion people globally.[1] However, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that, unless agricultural practices improve significantly, water scarcity and increased temperatures may cause rice yields in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to drop 50% by 2100. [2] Yields decline with higher nighttime temperatures, especially during the reproductive phase of the plant.[3] In coastal regions, saltwater intrusion as sea levels rise increasingly threatens rice production. Scientists estimate that in some coastal areas of Bangladesh, rice yields will decline by 15% by 2050 due to soil salinity.[4]The increase in occurrence of droughts also affects rice production. The situation is especially acute in California, where severe droughts result in water shortages. During California’s 2011-2014 drought, thousands of acres of land normally in rice production were left fallow.[5] Rice farming also contributes significantly to climate change. The microbes in rice paddies’ anaerobic soils decompose organic matter and produce about 9% of global anthropogenic methane emissions.[6] Studies also showed decreases in B vitamins of 17-30% with increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere expected in the future.[7]
References:
[1] Sumithra Muthayya et al., “An Overview of Global Rice Production, Supply, Trade, and Consumption,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1324, no. 1 (September 2014): 7, doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12540.[2] “Redfern et al. - Rice in Southeast Asia Facing Risks and Vulnerabi.Pdf,” accessed March 17, 2021, http://www.fao.org/3/i3084e/i3084e18.pdf.
[3] Shaobing Peng et al., “Rice Yields Decline with Higher Night Temperature from Global Warming,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 27 (July 6, 2004): 9971, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0403720101.
[4] The World Bank, “Salinity Intrusion in a Changing Climate Scenario Will Hit Coastal Bangladesh Hard,” (February 17, 2015), https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/02/17/salinity-intrusion-in-changing-climate-scenario-will-hit-coastal-bangladesh-hard.
[5] Terrance Chea, “Drought Hurts California Rice Harvest,” Associated Press, October 30, 2014. Accessed June 26, 2019. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/oct/30/california-drought-hurting-rice-harvest/.
[6] Marielle Saunois et al., “The Global Methane Budget 2000–2012,” Earth System Science Data 8, no. 2 (December 12, 2016): 711, doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-697-2016.
[7] Chunwu Zhu et al., “Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Levels This Century Will Alter the Protein, Micronutrients, and Vitamin Content of Rice Grains with Potential Health Consequences for the Poorest Rice-Dependent Countries,”Science Advances 4, no. 5 (May 1, 2018): eaaq1012, 2, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012.
