According to researchers climate change will drastically reduce the flow of snow and ice melt water in the Himalayas, threatening the food security of more than 60 million Asians. The major rivers of India and the Indus and Brahmaputra basins are expected to be the most adversely affected, while in China the availability of irrigation water in the Yellow River basin will actually increase. More than one billion people depend on the meltwater supplied by the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze and the Yellow River. The downstream sections of the Indus river are dry and are home to one of the largest irrigation networks in the world and completely dependent on meltwater. The snow and ice reserves situated upstream are important for sustaining the availability of water downstream. Climate change will ultimately result in declining discharge levels in the major Asian rivers, impacting the volume of irrigation water available. However, the opposite is also possible in the Yellow River basin as an increase in winter rainfall is expected, resulting in the increased availability of water early in the growing season. The size and discharge of Himalayan glaciers are also experiencing significant decline due to climate change.

Agriculture and UNFCCC post-2012 agreements

The agriculture and rural development community now needs to build on the momentum generated in 2009. The overall goal should be to determine how agriculture can contribute to food security and secured livelihoods, while simultaneously building resilience to climate change, reducing GHG emissions and sequestering carbon. For the coming year it is important to start to put in place policies and investments to achieve these aims in a way that places low carbon development and peoples’ livelihoods at the core of agriculture. This will need to be paired with an overall increase in investment on agriculture and food security. Globally securing text under the common vision for Long Term Co-operative Action (LCA) explicitly mentions food security and agriculture so that actions developed under the agreement contribute to this vision. The agreement on an agriculture work programme under the SBSTA that covers mitigation and adaptation, which recognises needs of developing countries and smallholder farmers, is needed. The development of the LULUCF inventory of emissions and rules that explicitly include agriculture and support the development of REDD+ and increase understanding on role of agriculture as a driver of deforestation and the possibility of moving to REDD++ is also an important procedure that need to be considered. 

New atlas underlines significant role of northern soils in climate change

A soil atlas of the world's northernmost regions was launched at the European Parliament, where more than half the carbon present in the earth's soils is stored. It covers regions above the latitude of 50° N, which represent 16% of global land surface. So far, the public focus is on the melting of arctic ice as one of the indicators of climate change. However, 1700 billion tons of organic carbons are stored in the soils of the northern permafrost region and their thawing could lead to a substantial release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and would further increase global warming. The soil atlas of the northern circumpolar region is the first compilation providing all the available information on this carbon pool as well as other important data on northern soils. The atlas will therefore provide a valuable scientific input to climate change and sustainable development models. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said: "This atlas is a unique source of information for researchers, policy makers, teachers and the general public on the characteristics of northern soil and raises awareness of its environmental importance and global significance. It shows the possible impacts of climate change on permafrost-affected soils and explains the critical role that they play in the global climate and carbon cycles."