Climate change 'fast forwarding' nature
Friday, 28 Jul 2006 11:22
Climate change 'fast forwarding' nature
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Farmers need to plan ahead to keep up with climate change's effect on nature, according to the Environment Agency.
Warmer summers are resulting in harvests being brought forward and new opportunities to grow different crops.
Jane James, spokeperson for the Environment Agency told the Farming Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that warmer summers would result in the south of England being able to produce "the crops that you would expect to see in more Mediterranean climates now".
"You can't point to any one event and say this was definitely caused by global warming or climate change but we can say that it's much more likely that we will get summers like this in future," Ms James said.
However she warned that farmers would have to plan ahead effectively in order to cope with climate change.
"Some crops that we grow now won't be suitable in warmer conditions," she said.
"[Farmers] really need to plan in terms of providing for water and providing for the sort of extreme events which will become more common as the climate changes."
Her comments follow a report published yesterday by Scottish Natural Heritage which found that 75 per cent of Scottish birds, plants and butterflies are emerging earlier in the year.
As such the organisation warns that food chains may become out of balance, or desynchronised.
Professor Colin Galbraith, director of scientific and advisory services at SNH, said that conservation plans to help vulnerable species adapt to climate changes are vital as well as initiatives to limit carbon emissions which accelerate global warming.