Preface

As we all know, the veracity of global climate change is unequivocal. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR6 report affirms this assertion, observing that global temperatures will continue to rise while precipitation will decrease in some parts of the world and increase in others. In fact, the impacts of climate change on the environment and the economy will not be exclusively negative. While most developing world countries will continue to exhibit varied levels of vulnerability due to low adaptive capacities, in Canada, for example, climate change might extend the growing season for several crops, thus enhancing food production.

This book project begins with an understanding that the impacts of climate change across the world are and will continue to be varied. The global scope of the contributions is intended to elicit global readership and provide an opportunity to have experiences from across the world in a single book.

Consequently, this book contains thirteen peer-reviewed chapters on varied but interconnected themes that are within recent observations in climate change scholarship.

The chapters are organized into four sections. Section 1 introduces the concept of climate change, examining current global perspectives and trends. Section 2 includes four chapters focusing on climate risk, resilience, and vulnerability. The chapter topics include the nexus of climate change, spatial and temporal monitoring, impacts of climate change on radiation, and climate risk. They provide varied perspectives on climate risks, sensitivity, and exposure. Section 3 discusses monitoring and assessment. These chapters underscore various options used by researchers to monitor the impacts of climate change. The four chapters in this section address genetic interactions, microbial and chemical manipulation, trends in the use of fertilizers, and program evaluations. Finally, Section 4 focuses on adaptation. The four chapters in this section examine aspects of adaptation and mitigation of climate change, knowledge co-creation as an adaptation strategy, bio-stimulants and vulnerability to climate change, and the potential for domestic adaptation.

The scope of this book is to provide a niche not only for experts in climate change scholarship but also for other connected disciplines that are impacted by climate change ranging from activities that can be classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary. A broad readership including academics, students, policymakers, and various organizations and stakeholders looking for a place to obtain a broad perspective on climate change will find what they are looking for in this book.

This work has been made possible thanks to IntechOpen and the authors who provided their manuscripts. I would like to thank our team at Unité de recherche et développement en agroalimentaire (Unit of Research and Development in Agri-Food) (URDAAT), Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) for encouragement and for providing the environment in which this work was carried out.
