Plant responses to climate change, how global warming may impact on food security: a critical review

Abstract

Global agricultural production must double by 2050 to meet the demands of an increasing world human population but this challenge is further exacerbated by climate change. Environmental stress, heat, and drought are key drivers in food security and strongly impacts on crop productivity. Moreover, global warming is threatening the survival of many species including those which we rely on for food production, forcing migration of cultivation areas with further impoverishing of the environment and of the genetic variability of crop species with fall out effects on food security. This review considers the relationship of climatic changes and their bearing on sustainability of natural and agricultural ecosystems, as well as the role of omics-technologies, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics and ionomics. The use of resource saving technologies such as precision agriculture and new fertilization technologies are discussed with a focus on their use in breeding plants with higher tolerance and adaptability and as mitigation tools for global warming and climate changes. Nevertheless, plants are exposed to multiple stresses. This study lays the basis for the proposition of a novel research paradigm which is referred to a holistic approach and that went beyond the exclusive concept of crop yield, but that included sustainability, socio-economic impacts of production, commercialization, and agroecosystem management.

Keywords: food security; global change; global warming; holistic approach; omics; sustainability.

Figure 1

Map of probable shifts in cultivation areas of some key and traditional crops due to global warming and climate change, positioned on the heat prevision map extracted from the last IPPN report (2081-2100).

Figure 2

Soil-CO₂ emissions-Global Warming and Sustainability connection with an holistic view.