A REVIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN SUGARCANE INDUSTRY

WITH INCREASING evidence of a changing climate and future projections for warmer and generally drier conditions for Australia in the coming decades, many stakeholders in the sugarcane industry are seeking to understand the vulnerability of their enterprise at a regional and national level. Vulnerability can be considered as the difference between the net impacts brought about by climate change and the industry’s capacity to adapt. This paper reviews the research conducted over the past five years into the impacts and adaptive capacity, and hence the vulnerability, of a number of sugarcane growing regions on the east coast of Australia. It is concluded that the most effective way of assessing the negative and positive impacts of climate change, and the potential for adaptive strategies to off-set or capitalise on these, is for climate impact assessments to be conducted in collaboration with industry stakeholders from all sectors of the value chain. These assessments are also considered to be most effective when carried out at a mill-region level to enable specific biophysical, economic and social characteristics to be taken into account. Eco-physiological models, such as the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM), provide a useful tool for not only quantifying the potential impacts of climate change in terms of crop yield, but also assessing the efficacy of adaptation strategies. Some regions in the sugarcane industry are already adapting to warmer temperatures. However, many knowledge gaps have been identified for both the sugarcane production system and climate science related to sugarcane production. This information can be used to guide investment in research, development and extension.