Impact of climate change under scrutiny

EXPERTS are to study ways climate change will affect agriculture in east Suffolk.

The Future Landscapes project will be delivered over the next 18 months by NFU East Anglia, working on behalf of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The project will also provide clear and practical advice to land managers on how to adapt to new challenges presented by climate change, such as rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns and the impact on water resources.

Farmers will be given advice in a special series of events and one-to-one meetings throughout 2011, said Neil Lister, project officer for the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB Unit.

“There is much high-level discussion about the need to adapt to climate change but little support and engagement at grass roots level with communities and individuals about how to go about it.”

Vital issues such as cropping options, irrigation, sustainable bioenergy production and impacts of changes to European Union and English agricultural policies will all be considered.

Climate experts say East Anglia is likely to remain Britain’s driest region. But changing rainfall patterns, including warmer and wetter summers, could have a profound effect on agriculture.

NFU countryside policy adviser Alex Dinsdale will manage the project until it is completed in spring 2012. The project would provide recommendations for future agricultural and environmental policy, he said.

“It will help to provide a valuable insight into how climate change will affect this part of East Anglia, help farmers to prepare for these changes, and highlight the importance of protecting productive farmland.”

The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB is considered one of Britain’s finest landscapes.

Located on the coast of East Anglia it covers 150 square miles from the Stour estuary in the south to the eastern fringe of Ipswich and Kessingland in the north.