Climate Change-Induced Spatiotemporal Monsoon Variability: Assessment of Its Implications on Global and Regional Production Systems

Monsoons are the major type of global climate named after characteristic seasonal reversal of winds and corresponding changes in rainfall because of pressure and temperature gradients created by the earth’s tilted motion around its axis and differences in land-to-sea masses in the northern and southern hemispheres. Monsoons facilitate agricultural activities by their symphony with the crop water requirements, contributing to global food security as monsoons prevail over larger areas of the world. As evident from past studies, the monsoons are highly influenced by clime change due to alterations in regular pressure and thermal gradient systems. This enforces us to study climate change-induced monsoon variability and its influence on regional and global food security. Simulation studies have indicated impacts of variations in monsoonal precipitation besides increased temperature have resulted in decreased wheat and rice productivity in tropical Asia. The decreases in precipitations in the American monsoon regions like south Chile, south-west Argentina, south Peru, and west-central America have imparted yields of major crops like soybean, wheat, and maize due to abiotic stresses. In the US, a 0.01 to 0.05 tonnes/annum decrease in maize yield was reported due to internal variability in ENSO and the variability was more in rainfed maize than irrigated. The African region is comparatively more vulnerable to monsoon variability because of entirety of monsoon dependence. In Sahel region, a notable decrease in groundnut yields was reported (850 kg/ha in 1966–67 to 440 kg/ha in 1981) due to variations in rainfall distribution during crop growth period. On the other hand, seven African grasslands out of 31 world grassands under study showed vulnerability to monsoon variability leading to poor fodder availability to livestock. This highlights the socio-economic losses caused by the monsoon variability as an impact of climate change. In light of this information, the present chapter examines the impact of climate change on precipitation variability in monsoon regions of the world and assesses its implications on global and regional production systems.