ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGES - A CHALLENGE FOR ROMANIAN AGRICULTURE

The process of adapting to climate changes is and will continue to be a challenging process considering the uncertainties related to climate evolution within the next decades. However, climate change is only one driver among many that will shape agriculture and rural areas in future decades. Adaptation means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise. In Romania, 62% of the land area is used for agriculture, followed by forests and other land with forest vegetation. Climate projections resulted from running a series of regional climate models seems to indicate that agricultural areas in Romania will be negatively affected by a number of changes with different levels of intensities. Adapting to climate changes is thus a very challenging issue for Romanian agriculture requiring a special attention and an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach.