The Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural and Livestock Production and Groundwater Characteristics in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract

Agriculture is located at the crossing point between ecosystems and society, where changes in the global environmental conditions affect agricultural activities. The total agricultural area in Abu Dhabi Emirate in 2017 was 749,868 donums. This study had two main objectives; first, to understand how agricultural and livestock production has changed and how these changes are relevant to socioeconomic statuses; second, to assess climate change’s impact on agricultural and livestock production through groundwater characteristics. We distributed and collected 301 surveys throughout the three main regions in the Abu Dhabi Emirate (Abu Dhabi City, Al-Ain City, and Al Dhafrah). The results indicated that approximately 68% of the respondents in Al-Ain agreed that it is currently much easier and more profitable to manage a farm than it was 20 years ago. Further, 39% of the farmers agreed that both product quality and quantity have improved over the past 20 years. About 51% of Emirati nationals agreed that production has changed over time. The farmers aged between 51-60 years also agreed that there has been a change in production over time. Half of the farm owners agreed that production has changed, while a majority of the workers provided neutral responses on this topic. While a number of both owners and workers agreed that both production and income levels changed, more respondents disagreed than agreed that these changes had occurred. Finally, the farmers aged between 51-60 years agreed more that the groundwater levels and quality had changed over the past 20 years.

Keywords

• agriculture, climate change, groundwater, irrigation