Climatic change is no longer big media hype. It is no longer a distant hypothesis or a scientific miscalculation. Climatic change is here and we are living in a world that is changing in ways we do not really fully understand. One thing we seem to know for sure is that the changes will not be to our liking at all. Our agriculture will be particularly vulnerable. The consequences to our society will be huge and in order to survive we shall have to adapt to the change, we will have to drastically alter our lifestyle.

Visible changes are under way; fish species which are expected to be found in warmer waters of the Red Sea and the Atlantic are invading the Mediterranean. Plants that live in warmer climates are colonising further northern regions of Europe. All these, together with the more severe weather fluctuations from droughts to floods, the planet has been experiencing during the last decade. They are some of the indicators of change that will bring profound demands on our social, behavioural and economic systems.

The first to succumb to climatic change will be agriculture. Olive growers in Europe are already facing difficulties because the flowering olive will abort the process if the temperature becomes higher than 28 degrees. The last two decades have been the warmest of the 20th century but crops will not only have to cope with higher temperatures but also with periods of drought, new pathogens and flash floods.

One area that has been underestimated is the impact on water resources. Change in land use, the persistent conversion of agriculture or rural areas to housing and industrial areas will only serve to complicate and exacerbate the impact. A more sophisticated lifestyle, an economy based on tourism, an agriculture that has high animal husbandry all serve to increase demands on both water supply and food production. Unforeseen population migrations, driven northwards by the scourge of local conflict, famine and a bleak future, will push demands for more primary food production and water resources higher and higher.

Meanwhile, the response of nature will also seem antagonistic. Shifting precipitation patterns from gentle rainfall spread over some months, to more sporadic and heavy showers will create periods of water stress that alternate with bursts of devastating downpours that damage crops and carry away valuable soil, that will be lost forever. Envisaged sea level rise due to global warming will put low-lying agricultural areas at risk too due to sea water seepage.

But to cope with future food demands requires more agricultural land, more intelligent land management, resource preservation to mitigate the adverse climatic effects of the future. More agricultural land is required not to rely on imports and not to resort to potentially unhealthy intensive agriculture but to embark on organic farming practices.

These are just further strong reasons why it will be a huge folly to trade such a big area of agricultural land for any other project such as a golf course. To assert that a golf course is the miracle pill our tourism industry has been waiting for is a blatant admission that our nation has no other worthy attractions. It reveals a lack of enthusiasm of the government to mobilise the country's natural resources. Who can guarantee that in response to climate change tourism would not shift northwards in search of cooler, more comfortable places where to play golf in particular?

The truth is that any project that usurps agricultural land is in no way sustainable because our islands could not afford to lose any more cropland. Our agriculture needs an uplift and not a blow that we shall repent. Every bit of soil is a national resource and farmers should be encouraged to return to it. An environmentally conscious government worthy of its salt would seek to meet the present demands without compromising those of the future generations. A wise government would face the challenge of climate change with due caution and would at least resort to the precautionary principle before committing such a big irreversible change. Doing otherwise would just be the folly of follies which at the end of it all will have to be borne by each one of us - the taxpayers.

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