Rice is a major food crop of Asia and of the world. The impact of global warming on rice may be due to a rise in sea level, thus resulting in inundated lands with sea water which makes these lands unsuitable for rice cultivation. Climate change is estimated to affect 20 million hectares of the world’s rice-growing area adversely, mainly in India and Bangladesh. It is forecasted by the International Food Policy Research Institute that by 2050, the rice prices will increase between 32% and 37% as a result of climate change due to the reduction in rice productivity by 14% in South Asia, 10% in East Asia and the Pacic and 15% in sub-Saharan Africa. The rise in carbon dioxide levels in the environment may result in higher biomass in rice, which, depending on the type of cultivars, may or may not

Abstract 187 8.1 Introduction 188 8.2 Global warming 188 8.3 Global warming and rice productivity 189 8.4 Land and water resources for rice 191 8.5 Salinity, ooding and rice 193 8.6 Water shortage and rice productivity 194 8.7 Global warming and its impact on pests, diseases

and weeds 194 8.8 Strategies for mitigating effects of global

warming on rice production 195 References 196

increase the grain yield. Climate change may be tackled by adopting proper strategies in research and policies of different countries. A proactive approach to this may save the rice production, as well as help in reducing emissions of greenhouse gas ‘methane’ from rice cultivation.