The sustainability of viticultural agro-systems facing future climate change: a comparison between France (Roussillon) and Australia (greater Adelaide)

Vitis vinifera grows within a narrow climatic range and a vineyard has an economical lifespan of 30 to 100 years. Thus, long-term trends of change in local climate could impact heavily on the sustainability of a branch highly integrated into global markets. However, the viability of a viticultural system depends not only on environmental factors, but also on human decisions and economic constraints.

By comparing McLaren Vale in South Australia with Roussillon in southern France, I aim to show the role played by social, economic and even political factors in the adaptation capacity of an agrosystem to changes in the environment (mainly temperature increase). In those two Mediterranean-type viticultural regions, climate challenges have been roughly the same in the last decades and are predicted to be comparable by 2060. However, strategies of adaptation at different levels (block, vineyard, region and state) are different in the two regions, due to contrasting socio-economic and human contexts.

This project aims to bridge climatological, social and economic approaches to study the impacts of changes in climate on a specific agrosystem, with an international perspective.

Bibliography:

Engle, N. (2011) ‘Adaptive capacity and its assessment', Global Environmental Change, 21: 647-56.

Holland, T. and Smit, B. (2010) ‘Climate change and the wine industry: current research themes and new directions', Journal of Wine Research, 21: 125-36.

Jones, G. et al. (2005) 'Climate change and global wine quality', Climatic Change, 73: 319-43.

Webb, L., Whetton, P. and Barlow, E. (2011) ‘Observed trends in winegrape maturity in Australia', Global Change Biology, accepted article.