Farmer and community‐led approaches to climate change adaptation of agriculture using agricultural biodiversity and genetic resources

Conservation and utilization of a broad range of genetic resources in agriculture is an essential element of strategies for coping with the effects of climate change. This chapter explores briefly how climate change is impacting farming communities around the globe, as well as the genetic resources that are an essential resource to these farmers. It focuses on how genetic resources can be an invaluable resource to communities. The chapter explains how farmer‐led approaches are utilizing these resources to adapt to climate change. It is recognized that climate change will directly affect the agriculture sector due to changes in temperature, precipitation, and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Agricultural biodiversity and genetic resources are threatened by biotic and abiotic factors resulting from climate change. Monocultures have increased dramatically worldwide, thus narrowing plant diversity and increasing crop genetic uniformity. Communities around the world realize the role of genetic resources and agricultural biodiversity in adapting to climate change.