Global warming could lead to a 30 percent decline in the yield of key crops over the next 100 years, according to a report made by the United Nations Environment Programme during ongoing climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco. The report says rising temperatures damage the growing capacity of critical crops such as wheat, rice, and maize, with yields likely to drop as much as 10 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase in the tropics. Current climate models predict a global warming of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The results suggest a potential human disaster in the form of increased world hunger, as well as an environmental disaster, as farmers seek higher, cooler places to cultivate, threatening wildlife and forests in the process. So what are we doing about it? Get the inside scoop from our correspondents in Marrakech, only on the Grist Magazine website.
