CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON GENETIC RESOURCES IN THE CARIBBEAN

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON GENETIC RESOURCES IN
THE CARIBBEAN

• ROLE OF GENETIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND
  UTILISATION

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CLIMATE CHANGE

• Climate change refers to long-term changes in the
  weather pattern.
• The real threat of climate change lies in
• Rapidity with which the changes occur
• Unpredictability of weather patterns

3
ISLAND CARIBBEAN STATES

• The Caribbean islands are home to unique
  ecosystems and species, with unsurpassed
  biodiversity.
• Extremely vulnerable
• fragmentation of habitat - small population sizes
• invasive species
• fires, hurricanes, floods

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN ISLAND STATES OF THE CARIBEAN

• Sea level rises
• loss of coastal ecosystems, coastal erosion,
  salination of arable lands
• Increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes
• flooding, wind damage, further fragmentation of
  habitats
• Increased frequency and severity of droughts
• fires, crop losses.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON ECOSYSTEMS

• Ecosystems will become fragmented and population
  sizes reduced.
• Species extinction rates are already much higher
  in island states
• Likely to be further aggravated by climate
  change.
• Species may require human intervention for
  survival.

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AGRICULTURE SCENARIO

• Likely to be more severe in agriculture
• Reliance on a few crops
• No genetic variability within crops
• No evolutionary flexibility of varieties
• Reliance on imported varieties with poor
  adaptability
• Modern varieties show limited plasticity
• Seed production system not conducive to evolution

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IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURE

• Greater management interventions reqd
• greater cost of production and poor profitability
• Greater agricultural risk due to unpredictable
  weather patterns.
• Lead to system of agriculture that is not
  sustainable.
• Implications to food security.

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Genetic Resource Management

• Aims
• Improve evolutionary flexibility
• to allow species and varieties to evolve to
  climate change (prevent extinction)
• Reduce Agricultural Risk and Cost of Production
• Improving environmental flexibility by improving
  the stability of varieties
• Improve adaptability

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Genetic Resource Management

• Species in natural ecosystems should be monitored
  for their health
• genetic and biotechnology tools provide a system
  for monitoring.
• Endangered species would require human
  intervention.
• Conservation strategies for ecosystems.

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Genetic Resource Management

• Indigenous crop species of the Caribbean should
  be collected and conserved
• Adapted to the Caribbean, have the greatest
  genetic variability and hence evolutionary
  flexibility.
• Underdeveloped crops should be developed to
  provide a greater crop diversity

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Genetic Resource Management

• Rethinking the crop ideotype
• Rethinking the population structure of varieties
• Rethinking our seed production systems

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Genetic Resource Management

• Pre-breeding populations
• Reduce agricultural risk through breeding for
  tolerances
• Crop biotechnology
• Local more diversified breeding efforts

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A Note of the Role of Biotechnology

• Biotechnology tools have provided a scientific
  basis for managing natural populations by
  studying the genetic diversity
• Provide means of adaptation to new stresses in
  short periods of time.

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Thank you.