Sir, – The criticisms of the recent Stop Climate Chaos report “Projected Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Irish Agriculture” by the IFA (November 4th) are unfortunate, misdirected and incorrect on a number of counts.
The purpose of the research was not to attack Irish agriculture or Irish farmers but rather to highlight a range of projected costs and opportunities that may occur within the sector.
The report considers likely costs up to the middle of this century if climate change continues unchecked and in the absence of significant action to adapt to its impacts.
The reported economic costs in the arable sector relate to potential future mid-century impacts that are linked with factors including, but not limited to, direct output from that sector. For example, potential economic impacts associated with drought and flood effects are linked with soil erosion and soil leaching rather than direct arable output alone.
While genetically modified crops are not discussed in the report, one of the suggested adaptation options is to support research that focuses on identifying crops that can grow more successfully with changing climate conditions.
Finally, all but two of the 20 references sited in the report are from peer-reviewed sources. The two that are not formally peer reviewed are from newspaper articles. The full report is available at www.stopclimatechaos.ie. – – Yours, etc,
Dr STEPHEN FLOOD,
Irish Climate Analysis and
Research Units (ICARUS),
NUI Maynooth,
Co Kildare.