by Playfuls Staff |
19th March 2007
U.S. government scientists have found rising temperatures since 1981 have caused annual losses of about $5 [more] billion in the world's major cereal crops.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories researchers discovered that from 1981-2002, the world's fields of wheat, corn and barley have produced a combined 40 million metric tons less per year because of increasing temperatures caused by human activities.
"Though the impacts are relatively small compared to the technological yield gains over the same period, the results demonstrate that negative impacts of climate trends on crop yields at the global scale are already occurring," said David Lobell, the study's lead author.
The study is the first to estimate how much global food production has been affected by climate change. Annual global temperatures increased by about 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit between 1980 and 2002, with larger changes in several regions.
"Most people tend to think of climate change as something that will impact the future but this study shows that warming over the past two decades already has had real effects on global food supply," said Christopher Field, the study's co-author.
The research appears online in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
© 2007 UPI
