A new Climate Change Map, which shows that change in climate could lead to a change in the way we carry out our daily activities by the end of the century, has been developed by scientists from the UK.
This map not only plots out the changes in climate through the century, but also lists out places that are avid producers of food crops and what kind of trade exists between the different countries. Using this data, the map also helps visualise what each country could expect, as the climate change slowly kicks in.
This map has been developed by the Met Office Hadley Centre, with the help of the British Government, contributions made by universities, and by some other science organisations. The map has been named 'Human Dynamics of Climate Change'.
The map contains mainly two types of changes in the world. The first one is the present day dynamics, i.e. from 1981 to 2010. The second part is the future dynamics, which maps out what the scenario might be at the end of the century.
These maps, however, do not take into consideration any change in human policy to adapt to the climate change. They merely represent the climate change, and how it could affect the day to day human life based on the current trends in international politics and trade. The scientists hope that instead of accounting for any change in policies by the future governments and trade organisations, this map would help to drive the people to make the necessary changes, sometime in the future.
For the Indian sub-continent, the map predicts that as the population (in an already densely populated area with water scarcity and food insecurity) increases, the requirement for more food and water resources would increase drastically. It further predicts that the production of wheat and maize will decrease, by the end of the century. It does, however, predict that the production of rice would show a little increase.
However, that increase may not be enough to feed the country. Also it says that frequent cyclones and coastal floods would hamper both the people's lives, properties and food production in the region.
Europe is said to have a slight increase in the production of wheat, with its water resources decreasing. The Middle East and Africa are projected to have an increase in droughts and water stress, with a substantial increase in the temperature, especially during the summers, and an increase in the import of food crops (especially wheat) from Europe and the Americas.
In Asia, the map predicts that the fishing industries would take a big hit, with the increase in acidification of the sea waters, while the import is to increase more, since there is an already high demand for soybeans to feed livestock. Australia is expected to increase their exports, as their population density is much lower in comparison to their food yield, while the number of droughts and summer temperatures is projected to increase.
The two Americas, who are large exporters of food crops, are expected to show mixed reaction in relation to food yield. However, an increase in drought is expected.
