CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE AREAS: EASTERN THRACE VINEYARDS

Abstract

Hurricanes, heat waves, torrential rain, flooding and other extremes of weather are being reported every year around the world. Each of these weather events is unusual, and are held in growing consensus as early indications of global climate change. It is now widely agreed that changes in land use, deforestation, and especially burning fossil fuels have already caused and will continue to cause substantial releases of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which directly affects global climate change. One of the largest contributors to this phenomenon is the agriculture sector, and, paradoxically, this sector is also one of the most affected by climate change. That is, because agriculture depends directly on predictable climate conditions, and suffers when environmental variables fluctuate unpredictably. The impacts of climate change on agriculture come about through changes in variability, seasonality, mean precipitation and water availability, as well as the emergence of new pathogens and diseases. The importance of understanding climate change impacts on agriculture is especially evident within viticulture. Direct or indirect effects of climate change in viticulture were monitored on vegetative and generative development, crop quality, yield, harvest time, irrigation, fertilisation, crop preservation and marketing. The climate not only influences the production of quality grapes, but it also affects the quality of the resulting products, including wine. In the scope of this study, a representative survey was done within Eastern Thrace Wine Producers, Turkey, to reveal the effects of climate change on wine grape production and the produced wines. The results were examined in order to present suggestions for future climate projections.