11.3.2.3. Temperate Asia
Projected surface warming and shifts in rainfall in temperate Asia are significant
and will induce increases in photorespiration, maintenance respiration, and
saturation deficits—causing stomatal closure and decline in productivity
(White et al., 1999). An adaptive response in the agriculture sector should
be an effort to breed heat-resistant crop varieties by utilizing genetic resources
that may be better adapted to warmer and drier conditions. Improvements in farming
systems, fertilizer management, and soil conservation form major adaptation
strategies (Lou and Lin, 1999). Research is needed to define current limits
to heat resistance and the feasibility of manipulating such attributes through
modern genetic techniques. Crop architecture and physiology may be genetically
altered to adapt to warmer environmental conditions. The genetic resources of
seeds maintained in germplasm banks may be screened to find sources of resistance
to changing diseases and insects, as well as tolerances to heat and water stress
and better compatibility with new agriculture technologies. Genetic manipulation
also may help to exploit the potentially beneficial effects of CO2
enhancement on crop growth and water-use efficiency.
The process of rapid urbanization and industrialization in several Asian megacities
has placed enormous stress on urban infrastructure, human well-being, cultural
integrity, and socioeconomic arrangements. These urban cities are giant resource
sinks and create a large "ecological footprint" on the surrounding
countryside. The negative environmental impacts of expanding cities are already
large; as they continue to grow and become more prosperous, these impacts are
likely to increase. Rising levels of air and water pollution in many of the
large cities are considerable. Production and consumption systems that sustain
life in cities are largely responsible for many of these changes. As climate
changes, the demand for basic infrastructure facilities such as housing, electricity,
food supply and distribution, and drinking water supply will increase, and municipalities
would have a difficult time managing waste recycling and waste disposal. Development
policies that mitigate or avert some of these long-term problems would have
to be country-specific and depend heavily on the availability of infrastructure
resources, the size of the floating population, and sustainable behavioral changes
in society.
Climate change will impinge on a diverse, complex, and dynamic form of climatic
hazards such as floods, droughts, sea-level rise, and storm surges in the countries
of temperate Asia. Preparation for changes in climate variability should include
provision for the possibility of increased flooding, as well as incidences of
drought. The present path of development in this region is placing more fixed
infrastructures and economic activity within the coastal zone. This trend seems
to offer limited scope for adjustments against flooding in the coastal zone
resulting from sea-level rise. The likelihood of damage to infrastructure and
loss of human life because of unexpected extreme events will rise. A wide range
of precautionary measures at the regional and national levels—including
awareness, perception, and the acceptability of risk factors among regional
communities—are warranted to avert or reduce the impacts of such disasters
on economic and social structures. Many current technical and socioeconomic
barriers will need to be overcome to prevent risks to human health resulting
from increases in disease incidences associated with climate change.
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