Sunday, February 6, 2011

PUNJAB AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY,INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE KICKS OFF AT PAU ,CLIMATE CHANGE TO IMPACT DEVELOPING COUNTRIES HARD: DR KANG

LUDHIANA, FEBRUARY, 6:---

A three-day International conference on \'Preparing Agriculture for Climate Change\' kicked-off at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), today. The event was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, Chairman Punjab Agricultural Marketing Board. In his remarks, S. Lakhowal said that green revolution was a path breaking movement and Punjab has spearheaded it for over four decades. However, the agricultural sustainability has become an issue of great concern, he said.The conferences and scientific meets are the occasions to discuss the contemporary issues and to devise strategies aimed at improving the economic well being of farmers and farming. For their efforts of enhancing production that farmers must be compensated through providing them adequate prices of the produce and to provide relief against natural calamities, said S. Lakhowal. He congratulated PAU for proactively organizing the International conference on a vital theme of climate change where agricultural scientists and climatology experts from different parts of the world are participating.



The Inaugural Session was presided over by Dr. Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU. In his presidential address, Dr. Kang said that climate change is a serious global issue of great concern to different countries. There are many harmful effects of global warming; he said adding that the obvious is climate change that is taking place for several years. The average temperature of the Earth has been on a steady rise ever since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when people began burning fossil fuels for energy. In tropical regions of Asia, several countries have reported increasing surface temperature trends, he observed. Global warming will affect the scheduling of the cropping season as well as the duration of the growing period of crops in Asia. In India, while the wheat crop is vulnerable to an increase in maximum temperature, the rice crop is so to an increase in minimum temperature. Acute water shortage combined with temperature stress should negatively affect both wheat and rice productivity in North-West India, said Dr. Kang. Scientists have foreseen that global warming due to green house gasses, such as carbon dioxide, will cause disastrous climate changes, he observed. Ice caps will melt, flooding low lying areas. Flooding, drought and hail storms are just some of the problems farmers will have to deal with more often. They will find it hard to grow crops in the face of droughts and other natural disasters.



Dr. Kang said that attack of diseases and pests on crops will be harsh, lowering crop quality and production. Giving example of vector-borne diseases, Dr. Kang said that malaria is spreading as the climate shift causes mosquito vectors to move to new areas and other diseases that we may have thought were eradicated. The world, especially the southern hemisphere, could see a major slump in agricultural productivity as a consequence of climate change. Agricultural losses related to climate change are expected to hit developing countries hard, as agriculture employs a substantial number of people and contributes greatly to economic growth. Further, poverty in developing world is largely rural with a significant proportion of the population still dependent on agriculture. The Green Revolution of 1970s and 1980s substantially increased food grain productivity and increased rural wages. However, recent agricultural growth rates in countries like India are far below the growth rates of other economic sectors. Thus unlike in developed countries, the adverse impact of climate change on agriculture will disproportionately affect the poor. Dr. Kang said that climate change will impact five domains namely, food, water, energy, shelter and health which are governing our lives. Referring to Dr. Wulf Killmann, who wrote \'Foreword\' of a recent FAO publication entitled \'Climate Change and Food Security: A framework document\', Dr. Kang said that climate change will affect all four dimensions of food security: food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and food systems stability. All this will have an impact on human health and purchasing power and market flows. Because, from the standpoint of food, the world is regarded as one civilization, both developed and developing countries will be affected. In developing countries, such as India, climate change could adversely affect the already stressed ecological and socioeconomic systems because of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and economic development.



A key question for agricultural scientists, therefore, is: \"Will climate-resilient agriculture technologies mitigate the effects of climate change?\", said he adding that we need to develop a consensus global view on this. Dr. Kang said that eminent agricultural scientists and climatologists participating in the conference will deliberate on relevant themes including: Agriculture- abettor and sufferer, Mitigation strategies – policy and management interventions, Adaptation strategies-genetic options/interventions and Climate change and biodiversity-extinction and new emergence.



S. Lakhowal released the special issue of Crop Improvement and a Souvenir specially brought out for the occasion. The proceedings of the conference sessions were available online on PAU website.



The PAU Director of Research, Dr. S.S. Gosal welcomed the Chief Guest, Guests of Honours, dignitaries and delegates from different countries. He said that PAU, a harbinger of green revolution in the country, has always strived to initiate need-based programmes.



The PAU Dean Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Gursharan Singh discussed the role that PAU has played over the years in the front line of food security. He said that the university has established strong International linkages through a large number of agreements of collaborations. He informed the house about the organization setup of PAU alongwith its achievements and futuristic programmes.

Earlier, Dr. Manjit Singh Gill, Head Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, PAU gave an overview of the activities and programmes of Crop Improvement Society of India (CISI) under the auspices of which the conference has been organized.The conference has planned invited plenary and symposium presentations and a panel discussion on \"Directed adaptation to climate change and role of long-term forecasting models.\" There will be symposium lectures in the evenings of the first two days. One session will be devoted to selected contributory posters from bright young scientists and students, said Dr. Gill.



After the inaugural session, the Chief Guest and other dignitaries visited the exhibition put up by various agencies. In the Session-II on agriculture: abettor and sufferer, Dr. Daniel Hillel of Colombia University, Centre for Climate Systems Research, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York deliberated on \'Climate Change and the Sustainability of Farming Systems\', Dr. Dinesh Benbi, PAU discussed \'CO2 and methane emition from agricultural soil: sources and mitigation potential\', Dr. Prem Bindraban of International Soil Reference and Information Centre, Wagningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands deliberated on \'Eco-efficiency in Agro-eco Systems\' and Dr. Tej Pratap, from SKAUST, Srinagar gave a presentation on \'Climate Change and Mountain Agriculture: Pinching and Adapting Processes\'. In the Session-III (Mitigation strategies-Policy and Management Interventions) Dr. Robert Norton, IPNI, Australia spoke on \'Agronomic Practices and Input use efficiency\'. The scheduled symposium lecture on climate change was by Dr. P.K. Aggarwal, International Water Management Institute, New Delhi on \'Climate Change: What it means for Indian Agriculture and National
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