ABSTRACT
Climate change is a serious threat to agricultural and environmental sustainability. Climate change is the cause of extreme weather conditions, which will ultimately reduce crop productivity. Previous reports stated that atmospheric temperature has increased by 0.74°C and will continuously increase by up to 1.8°C–4.0°C by the end of this century. This increase in temperature is the result of an increase in greenhouse gases through anthropogenic activities. The projections for rainfall and evapotranspiration are uncertain for most of the cotton-growing regions. The increase in temperature and uncertain rainfall lead to a reduction in crop duration, induce pest populations, enhance mineralization and evapotranspiration. As a result, cotton production will reduce by up to 40% to 50%. Besides this, increasing carbon dioxide concentrations will enhance photosynthesis, biomass production, and eventually cotton yield. Thus increasing carbon dioxide favours cotton production but the rise in temperature affects it negatively. Therefore, adaptive strategies are needed to reduce the impact of climate change. Development of varieties that could resist any biotic and abiotic stress and respond to elevated carbon dioxide and temperature will help to mitigate the negative impact of climate change. Furthermore, modifications in production technologies provide useful information to growers, researchers, and policymakers and will help to sustain cotton production in the future changing climate.
