Conference Session “Climate resilience of globalized Eurasian food chains” at IAMO Forum 2017
At the IAMO Forum, IAMO annually brings together decision makers from research, politics and agribusiness to exchange knowledge and experience. This year, the IAMO Forum will take place from June 21-23, 2017 in Halle (Saale), Germany, and is dedicated to the topic of “Eurasian Food Economy between Globalization and Geopolitics”. The joint IAMO-ZALF-PIK session on “Climate resilience of globalized Eurasian food chains” will address climate-related challenges and risks for the further development of food chains and trade in the respective region.
The agricultural sector in Eurasian transition economies is fraught with several development constraints, for instance the declining area of arable land associated with land degradation, lack of irrigation water and financial resources. Climate change additionally increases the vulnerability of rural producers in the region. Also in Eastern European transition economies, severe droughts and fires in large grain producing regions of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine caused a significant production decrease in the years 2008, 2010 and 2012. Furthermore, rainfall is becoming heavier and increasing the sequence of floods especially in mountainous regions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the occurrence of weather extremes is expected to further intensify during the coming years. Missing adaptation strategies make the agricultural sector highly vulnerable to climate risk, thus endangering the livelihood of farmers. Since some of the countries like Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine are among the largest grain exporters worldwide, climate risks may also cause food insecurity even beyond the borders of transition economies. Often, these sudden price volatilities lead to impulsive responses by decision makers at higher political levels and cause large uncertainties in regional and international trade relations. The planned organized session will approach the topic from various sides. A first contribution will discuss the general mechanisms of price transmission throughout the food chain to evaluate the impact of climatic events on food prices. A second contribution assesses the extent of climatic risk in the region. Both issues are linked in a third presentation, which discusses the effects of weather shocks on agricultural commodity prices in Central Asia. A final presentation will provide an overview of climate change mitigation strategies and their impact on food prices.
Participating Institutes
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO)
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)
Event
Contact
Dr. rer. agr. Ahmad Hamidov (ZALF)
Project term
08/2016 - 06/2017