The Role and Use of Mathematical Programming in Agricultural, Natural Resource, and Climate Change Analysis

Climate change undeniably impacts agriculture and natural resources, enterprises and markets. For informed decision making, there is a need for information on climate change adaptation possibilities and mitigation alternatives. Mathematical programming has been used to address the economic aspects of such questions and allows analysis as climate change moves the environment into previously unobserved conditions. It allows us to model spatial and dynamic features of the issue and analyze heretofore unobserved adaptation and mitigation possibilities. This review provides an overview of and references for modeling techniques, conceptual issues, and major assumptions involved with using mathematical programming as a climate change economic analyzing engine, along with a brief comparison with other methods. We also review a number of studies applying mathematical programming to examine climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation issues in the agricultural and natural resources arena. Finally, we present a very brief discussion on research needs.