BC3. Basque centre for climate change – Klima aldaketa ikergai

Dr Niggol Seo, a Research Professor at BC3, presented the paper: Animal Husbandry in South America - An Economic Analysis of Vulnerabilities and Adaptations to Climate Change, coauthored with Dr.Mendelsohn of The School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University.

The paper, coauthored by Dr Niggol Seo and Dr Mendelsohn, in the International Workshop on Agriculture explores how South American farmers use livestock species choice to adapt to climate. A multinomial logit model of species choice is estimated for over 1200 farmers from 7 countries in South America. Both current temperature and precipitation affect which species South American farmers currently choose.

The results suggest that global warming will cause farmers to switch from beef cattle to more heat tolerant animals such as sheep. A wetter climate will encourage farmers to switch to chickens. Farmers will also move away from a specialized portfolio in beef cattle to a diversified portfolio.  

The Funding for this project was provided by the World Bank. The views expressed in the paper are the authors’ alone.