:: Climate Change Response Strategies for Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities for the Twenty-first Century

This paper is organized in five sections: (a) section one reviews the latest findings on impacts of key climate change variables on plant function and farm-level production systems, including changes in elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, and precipitation patterns; (b) section two presents an analysis of the repercussions of these local impacts on regional and global food productions; (c) section three presents a discussion of the adaptation strategies that are necessary to minimize the expected negative impacts on agro-ecosystems, as well as capitalize on potential new opportunities for promoting greater resilience and sustainable production; (d) section four identifies the important synergies that exist between adaptation strategies and mitigation options, such as those leading to carbon sequestration; (e) section five presents recommendations on some practical and operational steps needing to be implemented now, from the perspective of short- and long-term sustainable rural development and agricultural planning.