Climate change and farming in the near east

Here's the report of the Cairo meeting of March 1-5 of the FAO. The theme was "Climate Change, implications for agriculture in the Near East". And here's a critique in Al Akhbar's economic page today: "The language of the report is fatalistic. It does not address the causes of global warming, and gives partial solutions of the symptoms not the causes. It recommends reducing losses through better use of fertilizers and improving water use and improving productivity and water harvesting, and reducing methane emissions from rice and planting more perennials and "substitution of bioenergy and fossil fuel – although a possible option, FAO stresses that adverse effects on food security and the environment should be carefully assessed before embarking on any large-scale developments in this area."