Advancing Food Security in Face of a changing Climate
Friday, 17. October 2014 | 11:15 Uhr
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According to Gerald C. Nelson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, climate change has already affected agriculture. For example, Chinese rice production has moved from the South to the North. Coffee production as well has shifted to higher altitudes. However, Nelson warned, future changes could be far greater, yields in some regions could decline by up to 50%.
Despite the major challenge, Nelson is convinced: „It is possible to meet the world’s food and nutritional needs and satisfy food requirements in a way that protects the environment. To achieve this, efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions must start soon.“ In order to create a level playing field in the market, research must be boosted, companies‘ innovative power utilized, trade barriers eliminated. Small farmers in countries with low and middle income must be given access to practices and innovations that could improve their productivity and resilience. All this would strengthen the global food system to support a growing population with higher incomes.
For more details on his presentation which he held at the Academia Engelberg Foundation’s 13th Dialogue on Science, see the video.
Gerald C. Nelson
Gerald Nelson, Professor Emeritus, currently serves as a member of the Global Agenda Council on Measuring Sustainability with the World Economic Forum. Nelson retired in 2013 but most recently served as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. While at IFPRI he coordinated its climate change research, led the policy analysis activities of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security, and was the principal investigator on major projects on food security and climate change issues funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the German and British aid agencies.
His research includes global modeling of the interactions among agriculture, land use, and climate change; consequences of macro-economic, sector and trade policies and climate change on land use and the environment using remotely sensed, geographic and socioeconomic data; and the assessment of the effects of genetically modified crops on the environment. Nelson was the coordinating lead author of the Drivers chapter of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Scenarios work. Previously, he was Professor at the Department of Agricultural Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, served as Visiting Scholar at the Economic Research Service at the US Department of Agriculture, and was Specialist and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Agricultural Development and the University of the Philippines.
Jerry continues his research activities on global food security and the consequences of climate change but has also begun research on the effects of climate change and air quality on local agriculture near his home in Grand Junction, Colorado.
