This document discusses the challenges facing agriculture and natural resource management in Australia. It notes that food, water, land and energy resources are interconnected and climate change intensifies these interactions. It argues that conventional approaches are risky and that smarter planning, research, extension and education are urgently needed to increase sustainable production. These issues require solutions that cut across sectors and scales, and a rethinking of the agricultural innovation system is needed to better address these profound challenges.
This presentation focuses on watershed management which also takes climate change and the landscape approach into consideration. It shows measurements, drainage treatment, adaptive sustainable agriculture and much more.
This presentation focuses on watershed management which also takes climate change and the landscape approach into consideration. It shows measurements, drainage treatment, adaptive sustainable agriculture and much more.
This is a general presentation on WLE made by Andrew Noble for his trip to visit partners and donors in July 2014. Provides an overview of the WLE program and a number of examples of its work.
Eco enterprises opportunity for greening economy in key sectorsJared Omondi Buoga
A presentation on opportunities for greening the economy in Key Sectors. Presented during the 5th National Youth Conference on Climate change at Mully Children's Home.
Reconstruction in Nepal - priorities and impressions - March 2017Magnus Wolfe Murray
An update from field monitoring and walking through earthquake affected communities in Rasuwa and Gorkha districts. As part of my work as reconstruction advisor with DFID Nepal
The Comox Valley Conservatin Strategy is an ecosystem-based conservation plan for the protection and restoration of natural areas and sensitive ecosystems of the Comox Valley.
Promoting Sustainable Development of Hill Areas- Issues and OptionJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Presentation tries to define the issues and roadblocks facing the growth and development of hill settlements in India and suggests strategies to make them rational and supportive of sustainability
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
A lecture to first year students at the ANU and the National University of Singapore introducing key sustainability concepts with reference to Australia.
Science & Policy For Managing Australian Landscapes Nceas Santa Barbara Sept 07Charles Darwin University
An overview of Australian developments in science and policy for environmental management. Presented to the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara, September 2007.
This is a general presentation on WLE made by Andrew Noble for his trip to visit partners and donors in July 2014. Provides an overview of the WLE program and a number of examples of its work.
Eco enterprises opportunity for greening economy in key sectorsJared Omondi Buoga
A presentation on opportunities for greening the economy in Key Sectors. Presented during the 5th National Youth Conference on Climate change at Mully Children's Home.
Reconstruction in Nepal - priorities and impressions - March 2017Magnus Wolfe Murray
An update from field monitoring and walking through earthquake affected communities in Rasuwa and Gorkha districts. As part of my work as reconstruction advisor with DFID Nepal
The Comox Valley Conservatin Strategy is an ecosystem-based conservation plan for the protection and restoration of natural areas and sensitive ecosystems of the Comox Valley.
Promoting Sustainable Development of Hill Areas- Issues and OptionJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Presentation tries to define the issues and roadblocks facing the growth and development of hill settlements in India and suggests strategies to make them rational and supportive of sustainability
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
A lecture to first year students at the ANU and the National University of Singapore introducing key sustainability concepts with reference to Australia.
Science & Policy For Managing Australian Landscapes Nceas Santa Barbara Sept 07Charles Darwin University
An overview of Australian developments in science and policy for environmental management. Presented to the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara, September 2007.
How to restore wildlife habitats on a large scale in rural landscapes against a background of climate change. The Norman Wettenhall Foundation Annual Public Lecture, Museum Melbourne, November 2008.
Explores the implications for peri-urban areas of sustaining food and farming systems in a carbon, water, energy and nutrient-constrained world. Presented to a scenario planning workshop, RMIT Melbourne 27 November 2008.
What sorts of knowledge and learning systems do we need to best deal with the climate change challenge? Presented to ACT KM national conference, Canberra 2008.
The findings of the "Paddock to Plate" project commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation looking at the future of the Victorian food system.
Public lecture to the Australian Academy of Science in the wonderful Shine Dome in Canberra on 4 November 2009. A big picture look at the policy and science integration challenges across water, energy, carbon, food and health against a background of climate chaos and a looming oil crunch.
Food, water, energy nexus as an adaptation mechanism golam rasulICIMOD
Food-Water-Energy Nexus Approach: An Option for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region
Nexus approach is a system-wise approach
Provide a framework for assessing trade-offs & synergies
Improve resource use efficiency
Support minimizing trade-offs, maximizing synergies
Generate co-benefits through harnessing complementarities
The nexus approach encourage mutually beneficial responses and enhance the potential for cooperation between & among all sectors.
Most adaptation measures are sectoral or project driven
Sectoral approach promote cross-sectoral externalities and Mal-adaptation
Understanding the interlinkages between the water, energy, and food is vital for devising sustainable adaptation strategy
Nexus can be a pathway to climate adaptation and sustainable development through enhancing synergies and complementarities
2018 Open Space Conference - The Importance of Working Lands in a Changing WorldOpenSpaceCouncil
*Please note that animations in this presentations are not visible when viewed through Slideshare.
- Kara Heckert, California State Director, American Farmland Trust
- Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture
- Jamison Watts, Executive Director, Marin Agricultural Land Trust
- Loren Poncia, Owner and Producer, Stemple Creek Ranch
These panelists spoke at the 2018 Open Space Conference - Conservation in a Time of Change - on May 10, 2018 at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA. More info on the website: http://openspacecouncil.org/community-events/conference/
Building Climate Smart FARMERSThe Indian PerspectiveICARDA
Presented by
DR. KIRIT N SHELAT, I.A.S. (Rtd)
National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership (NCCSD)
AHMEDABAD - INDIA
We need a shift from our current paradigm of productivity enhancement while reducing environmental impacts, to a paradigm where sustainability constitutes the entry point for all agricultural development. Case studies include aphids for pest control in China and conservation agriculture in Colombia. Presented by Dr Andrew Noble, director of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems at World Water Week 2013 in Stockholm.
We need a shift from our current paradigm of productivity enhancement while reducing environmental impacts, to a paradigm where sustainability constitutes the entry point for all agricultural development. Case studies include aphids for pest control in China and conservation agriculture in Colombia. Presented by Dr Andrew Noble, director of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems at World Water Week 2013 in Stockholm
Findings of the sixth Global Environment OutlookKisrak Albahr
each slide in this presentation will have a learning objective presented. The purpose is to identify the main message that the presenter should be trying to convey with the slide and also to stress that we are trying to transfer knowledge, not simply raise awareness. In the transfer of knowledge there should retention of that knowledge so that eventually there may be action taken with that new knowledge. Awareness raising, on the other hand, may not lead to action being taken because the knowledge is not retained as readily.
For this slide, the presenter should be trying to convey appreciation their appreciation for the opportunity provided and also that the presentation provides a very high-level overview of the findings from the larger 700 page report, therefore some of the details may be lost.
Another key learning objective of the presentation is that, although GEO-6 presents quite a lot of negative information about the state of the environment, the overall thrust of the publication is optimistic and solutions-oriented, much like the cover of the publication, which tries to portray the sustainable world that we might all be living in by 2050.
Proposed speaking points
Thank you colleagues and I’d like to thank European Council for their generous invitation to review together the findings of the Global Environment Outlook.
I’d like to remind everyone that this is an overview of the main findings from the 700-page report and therefore we won’t really go into the finer details of the findings. Perhaps these can be covered in the question and answer session that will follow.
I’d like to first ask everyone to reflect on the cover of GEO-6. We have tried to provide a vision of what a sustainable world might look like in 2050 using this cover. Our hope is that readers might focus more on the positive and solutions-oriented messages in the report rather than the negative messages about the current state of our environment. We hope that you can each ‘imagine this world’ by looking at our cover, since this is the first step in achieving this world.
Similar to Challenges and Opportunities in Agriculture and NRM (20)
Challenges and Opportunities in Agriculture and NRM
1. Challenges and opportunities
in agriculture and NRM
ANDREW CAMPBELL
Ag Institute Australia, Brisbane 20 March 2013
http://riel.cdu.edu.au
2. Key Points
• Food, water, land and energy are intricately interconnected
• Long-term security concerns, amplified by climate change, affect all
• These issues all interact and compound each other
• There is considerable scope to increase production and exploit growing
domestic and export markets
• Conventional approaches are likely to be risky with patchy success
− Apart from getting more Aust farmers closer to the best, & shortening the tail
• Smarter Planning, R&D, Extension and Education are required urgently
• Some thoughts on how we could improve the system
2
3.
4. 2010-11 Disaster Season
• All States and Territories affected
• 320 (of 559) Local Government Areas disaster declared – some more than
once
• 72 (of 73) Local Government Areas in Queensland
• 36 lives lost
• More than 200,000 people evacuated from 70 towns
• Economic loss - estimated in excess of A$9 billion
• Scale of impact required additional Australian Government support
• Australian Govt pledged A$6.6 billion to recovery and reconstruction
• A$900 Million in individual payments
4
6. Scales for response to climate change
• Many of the main drivers of
biodiversity loss operate at the
landscape-scale e.g. habitat
fragmentation, invasive species and
changed fire regimes.
• It is the scale which lends itsel
CSIRO 2010
7. Water availability per
capita is declining
• Each calorie takes one
litre of water to produce,
on average
• Like the Murray Darling
Basin, all the world’s
major food producing
basins are effectively
‘closed’ or already over-
committed
IWMI Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management In Agriculture
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/assessment/ 7
8. The world needs 70% more food
• The world needs to increase food production by about 70% by
2050, & improve distribution (Queensland aims to double by 2040)
• We have done this in the past, mainly through clearing, cultivating
and irrigating more land
– and intensification, better varieties, more fertiliser, pesticides
• Climate change and oil depletion is narrowing those options, with
limits to water, land, energy & nutrients. We need to grow food:
– Using less land, water & energy and emitting less carbon
– Improving nutrition, distribution, animal welfare, pollution
– Looking after rural landscapes, biodiversity, amenity & communities
8
9. Profound technical challenges
1. To decouple economic growth from carbon emissions
2. To adapt to an increasingly difficult climate
3. To increase water productivity
— decoupling the 1 litre per calorie relationship
4. To increase energy productivity
– more food energy out per unit of energy in
– while shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy
5. To develop more sustainable food systems
– In competition for land and water with the resources sector
– while conserving biodiversity and
– improving landscape amenity, soil health, animal welfare & human health
6. TO DO ALL OF THE ABOVE SIMULTANEOUSLY!
— improving sustainability and resilience
10. We need a third agricultural revolution
• High level goals: e.g. doubling food &fibre production while
doubling water productivity, and becoming a net energy
producer from farming & pastoral lands
• How to get there?
– Farming systems that make more efficient use of and conserve water,
energy, nutrients, carbon and biodiversity
– Smart metering, sensing, telemetry, robotics, guidance, biotech
– Better understanding of soil carbon & microbial activity
– Radically reducing waste in all parts of the food chain
– Farming systems producing renewable (2nd gen) bioenergy
• Also producing energy from waste
– Urban and peri-urban food production
10 – Attracting talented young people into careers in agriculture
11. Myth-busting ‘100 Top End Dams’
• 60% of Australia’s run off in 55 free-draining catchments
‘going to waste’?
NO:
• All water is ‘used’
• Any additional extraction will have an impact
• Connectivity is crucial in these systems
– Catchment to coast
– Life cycles of biota, e.g. barramundi
– Indigenous food webs and cultural uses
– Groundwater-surface water interactions
• Options for surface water storages very limited
– Coastal floodplains already affected by 18cm sea level rise (last 20 years)
12. The Mary River, NT
floodplains affected by rising sea levels
Extensive melaleuca dieback as the system gets saltier
18cm sea level rise over last 20 years
13. Constraints to irrigated agriculture in the north
• Despite popular perceptions, these systems are water-limited –
evaporation exceeds rainfall, dry season is long and difficult
• Soils are generally ancient, weathered, low nutrient status, poor
resilience to impact or disturbance
• Given climatic extremes, erosion and soil loss potential can be very
high on even gently sloping sites
• Pest and disease problems can be very significant
• Input and transport costs are much higher than in the south
• Labour is more difficult to attract and keep
• Processing and marketing infrastructure is limited
• Markets are distant, supply chains vulnerable
14. Opportunities for irrigation in the north
• North Australia Land & Water Task Force suggested potential for
20,000 – 40,000 hectares of new irrigation
• Probably groundwater-based, distributed in ‘mosaic’ irrigation
systems (see CSIRO Northern Irrigation Futures project)
• Scope for integration with cattle to increase feed supply & quality
My take:
• OK, but off-farm, industry-level constraints (markets, transport,
processing, marketing, labour, energy) equally important as
agronomic and environmental challenges
• Significant opportunities to expand/intensify existing sites
(e.g. Burdekin, Ord, Lockyer, Darling Downs and peri-urban areas)
• Major opportunities next door in neighbouring countries
15. Planning landscapes & infrastructure
• How can this all ‘fit’ at a landscape and regional scale?
• The landscape needs to be re-plumbed and re-wired
• We need new planning approaches that:
– are robust under a range of climate change & demographic scenarios
– treat all land uses equitably – e.g. unconventional gas
– build in resilience thinking
(e.g. improve flood performance & recovery, ensure habitat connectivity &
buffering, protect refugia, don’t crowd coastlines)
– reduce greenhouse gas emissions (energy, transport, food)
– rethink transport networks (greener, tougher, smarter)
– safeguard productive soil and allow for increased food production
– facilitate recycling of water, nutrients and energy
Leading, educating and bringing the community on board
16. Our R&D system is so last Century…
• Big challenges for Australian agriculture:
climate, water, food, energy, land use planning, biosecurity (pests,
weeds, disease), social license
• All cross-sectoral, with strong public dimensions
• Yet our R&D architecture is overwhelmingly commodity-based,
production-focused, with modest incentives for public good
− Exacerbated by 2009 abolition of Land & Water Australia & RIRDC cuts
• Productivity Commission 2010 Review of Rural RDCs got it
mostly right
− especially on re-establishing a bigger version of LWA
16
17. Research & Development (2)
We need a bigger share of R&D spend on:
• blue sky work: e.g. energy, ICT, GM, web-based extension
• cross-sectoral: e.g.
− agriculture/health system links
− urban and peri-urban agriculture
− regional land use planning
− social acceptance of agriculture
• risk and resilience: e.g.
− extreme events
− biosecurity
− mass movement of large numbers of people
• large systems & macro scales in space and time 17
18. Extension needs a complete rethink
• The quickest way to double productivity in Australia is to narrow the
gap between the average & the best farmers
− and to shorten the long tail in most sectors
• Traditionally we’ve done this through extension and education
− but all govts have cut extension & until this year ag enrolments have been falling
• Private sector extension OK for selling products, but not set up for cross-
industry, regional scale or public good extension (or newcomers to Ag)
• RDCs have a major tension between $ to research vs extension
• Grower groups fine in some districts – need a more secure base
• Whole issue needs a rethink. National RD&E strategies disappointing.
• Web 2.0 and 3.0 a major opportunity but not replacing face to face
(agree with recent AFI thoughts of Mike Stephens and Dave Pannell & Sally Marsh)
18
19. Education crucial, but crying out for reform
• Skills gap well documented by Allens 2012 Report*
• Ag has low levels of professional training c/f Oz economy
− negative connotations in terms of profitability, lifestyle, ‘old economy’
and environmental virtue — tends to be judged by worst practice
• Need to re-think, re-tool, re-skill and re-brand
• Ag training still potentially very useful
− Breadth across the physical, chemical and biological sciences & ecology
− Significant doses of applied economics and management
− Just enough social science to be dangerous (room for improvement)
− But needs overhauling to underline centrality of ag in food, water,
climate, energy and health challenges — make it sexy & relevant
19
*Rebuilding the Agricultural Workforce Report to the Business/Higher Education Round Table
20. Agricultures need to make a better case
• Mike Stephens identifies several agricultures:
− the ~ 3000 very large businesses
− the productive and profitable middle
− the unprofitable
− the peri-urban, and lifestyle or hobby farmers
• ‘One size fits all’ approaches won’t work: Ag is multicultural
• Connect to consumers & invest in understanding them
− animal welfare and concerns about industrial food won’t go away
• Engage with social media – e.g. #AgChatOz#Food
• Landcare and Regional NRM should be seen as crucial to the
sustainability, social license and social capital of Australian Ag.
20
21. In Summary
• Food, water, land, energy and health are interconnected
• Climate change intensifies interactions, trade-offs and risks
• Australian agriculture has big opportunities and responsibilities
• Innovation is required across a broader canvas than the current
commodity-based institutional architecture was designed for
• Smarter Planning, R&D, Extension and Education are needed
− Probably requiring new, dedicated, mandated, skilful organisations
• This is an extraordinary challenge and opportunity for the
agricultural science profession, and professional bodies.
21
22. For more information
e.g. Paddock to Plate
Managing Australian Soils
Managing Australian Landscapes in a Changing Climate
Powerful Choices
The Getting of Knowledge
http://riel.cdu.edu.au