Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Air & climate

A hidden threat to food production: air pollution and agriculture in the developing world (pdf 744kb)

This paper examines the current and future importance of air pollution as a constraint to agricultural productivity in developing countries.

Air pollution is a growing problem in many developing countries. However, attention to date has been on its impact on human health in large cities. But as this paper demonstrates, air pollution in these cities, and in the surrounding countryside, could also have significant impacts on agricultural production.

The paper outlines the way in which air pollution represents a threat to agriculture in the developing world, presents field based evidence of significant crop yield reductions as a result of air pollution, and discusses approaches to the assessment of the extent and nature of this risk in other regions. A case study from India assesses the risk presented by this problem at a national level, highlights the implications for future research priorities, and outlines the policy context within which both the problem and some potential solutions lie.

 

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