Experts call for research on adaptive and climate resilient agricultural crops

New Delhi, Oct 5: The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2016 began here today with the theme "Beyond 2015: People, Planet & Progress".

At the thematic session today on "Climate Resilient Agriculture" at the WSDS organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), speakers called for a robust assessment of climate change projects and research for climate resilient crops.

Pramod Agarwal, regional programme leader of Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAF) deliberated on synergies and tradeoffs between food security and adaptations. "Achieving sustainable food security in a world with a growing population, changing diets and a changing climate is a major challenge", he said.

Agarwal pitched for research and innovation for developing drought and flood tolerant crops. "Numerous research are underway but we have to go a long way to achieve the desired results for a sustainable agriculture development", he said.

The session dealt with climate-related crop failures, fishery collapses and livestock deaths, which have caused economic losses and undermined food security. These are likely to become more severe as global warming continues.

Agarwal also spoke in the context of climate variability and uncertainty about future climate conditions. "Agriculture farms are subject to increasing climate variability and extremes, we need to have a robust assessment of climate change projects of impact assessment at regional and local level", he stated.

When asked about economic and sustainable varieties of crops for boosting agriculture in North East India, Agarwal said, "Research and innovation should be taken up to accelerate step for more adaptive varieties".

David Butler, Director of Sustainable Food Systems in Ireland, talked brand "Origin Green," a food marketing board based on producing safe, sustainable and secure food that is traceable all the way back to farmers.

He said, "Every animal in Ireland has a carbon navigator, which measures the carbon footprint of the food being produced. As the only country with such a system, customers can calculate carbon dioxide emissions from the milk or meat they consume".

He said that from an environmental point of view, Ireland has the most efficient and transparent system in the world, referring to the country’s sustainable food production and management.

Butler mooted that such a system can be replicated in other parts of the country for effective sustainable agriculture development practices.

At the Summit’s inaugural session today, Randal Newton, Vice President, Engineering Operations of Ingersoll Rand, said, "Technology breakthroughs in refrigerants and better control and maintenance of systems are providing the foundation for a significant reduction in lifecycle emissions in buildings and in transport refrigeration. Ingersoll Rand supports the HFC amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016 as one of the key initiatives to reduce the greenhouse effect on our environment."

"With India formally joining the Paris Agreement, we are confident that the search for solutions would continue further with more R&D activities and industry-led innovations in search for low-GWP HFC alternatives," he added.

The panel also explored how the Montreal Protocol can provide funding support for transitions offering greater efficiency and next generation, low global warming potential (GWP) solutions for room air conditioning systems.