ADMIT:

Harmonising Adaptation and Mitigation for agriculture and water in China

1) Purpose and objectives of the project

Overall aim

Preliminary estimates of the ‘carbon cost’ of future agricultural water use responses for adaptation to climate change.

There are three main elements to the project;

·         Assessing/describing main impacts of climate change on agriculture in China and deriving adaptation policy scenarios to sustain agricultural production in China

·         Developing preliminary estimates of energy consumption in agricultural water use, using case study data

·         Linking adaptation policies with energy use

On the basis discussions at the inception workshop in March 2010 the project will focus on a time horizon out to the 2030s, and use China’s current national planning to provide the framework for the definition of socio-economic and policy scenarios.

2) Expected outputs

·         Policy briefings on high-level adaptation options for agricultural water management

·         Review paper on meta-analysis and gap identification of information availability on energy use in agricultural water management

·         Technical manuals on methodology development for carbon accounting in agricultural water use

·         Research papers based on new data on carbon use in agricultural water management

·         Project reports on results to inform selection of national level adaptation policy

3) Activities

Phase 1. Assessing impacts and identifying adaptation policies

Projection of climate change impacts on crop production (2020-2030)

Identification of possible adaptation policy responses to meet food demand

·         Modelling of climate change impacts on agriculture and water use

·         Characterising the main features of current and future agricultural policy

·         Identification of sustainable adaptation options and policy responses

·         Capacity building through workshops and UK-China exchanges

Phase 2. Water use energy intensity in agriculture

Assessment of current energy and water consumption in agricultural water use

Scale up results to provincial / national level

·         Meta-analysis of energy use intensity in agricultural water use

·         Fieldwork and data collection at case study sites in China

·         Produce estimates of provincial / national energy use in irrigation

·         Public-Private lesson sharing and engagement of stakeholders

　

Phase 3. Linking adaptation and mitigation in agricultural water use

Assess carbon costs of different adaptation policies in agriculture

Prioritise adaptation policies

·         Identification of useful carbon accounting methods

·         Estimate carbon use associated with a range of adaptation policies

·         Evaluate policies in the context of a wider range of considerations

·         Policy briefs on adaptation options for agricultural water management

4) Research team