Vulnerability of aquaculture-related livelihoods to changing climate at the global scale
Loading...
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley Online Library
Abstract
There is now a strong consensus that during the 20th century, and especially
during recent decades, the earth has experienced a significant warming trend with
projections suggesting additional further warming during the 21st century. Associated
with this warming trend are changes in climate that are expected to show
substantial spatial variability across the earth’s surface. Globally, fish production
has continued to increase during recent years at a rate exceeding that of human
population growth. However, the contribution from capture fisheries has remained
largely static since the late 1980s with the increase in production being accounted
for by dramatic growth in the aquaculture sector. In this study, the distribution of
vulnerability of aquaculture-related livelihoods to climate change was assessed at
the global scale based on the concept of vulnerability as a function of sensitivity to
climate change, exposure to climate change and adaptive capacity. Use was made
of national-level statistics along with gridded climate and population data. Climate
change scenarios were supplied using the MAGICC/SCENGEN climate modelling
tools. Analysis was conducted for aquaculture in freshwater, brackish and marine
environments with outputs represented as a series of raster images. A number of
Asian countries (Vietnam, Bangladesh, Laos and China) were indicated as most
vulnerable to impacts on freshwater production. Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt and
Ecuador stood out in terms of brackish water production. Norway and Chile were
considered most vulnerable to impacts on marine production while a number of
Asian countries (China, Vietnam and the Philippines) also ranked highly.
Description
Keywords
Adaptability, aquaculture, climate change, livelihoods, vulnerability