Tier II CRC Climate Change Science Candidate Presentation - Dr. Masud
- Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Tier II CRC Climate Change Science Candidate Presentation - Dr. Masud
Climate Change and Sustainable Solutions to Water-Food Security
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Zoom Password: 524788
Abstract
The world’s agricultural production is affected by climate change and is facing the triple challenge of meeting water demand, ensuring food security, and creating space for nature. Innovative approaches are required to assess feedbacks and tradeoffs between water, food, and socio-economic systems for resilient and sustainable agriculture. Climate- and water-smart agricultural (CSA and WSA) approaches call for sustainable management solutions by integrating climate, water, food, and environmental systems. To implement CSA and WSA approaches, the adoption of the state-of-the-art virtual water trade (VWT) strategy would be an effective tool across regions and countries. Through this strategy, water-scarce regions can import water-intensive commodities instead of producing those by using locally available limited water resources. The VWT strategy will also play an important role in saving global water resources if the trade occurs from regions with higher water productivity to regions with lower water productivity. The export of water-intensive commodities, on the other hand, can affect the sustainability of local land, water supply, and water quality, because the production of commodities is highly dependent on local land-water settings, their management practices, and climate conditions. Therefore, local water renewal, water quality standards, and socio-economic norms under current and future climate conditions need to be considered in the VWT strategy to promote sustainable management options. Assessment of the role of VWT strategy at the regional level may help to promote water-food security and economic sustainability while overcoming some of the key limitations of this strategy. This presentation will focus on regional challenges of climate change for weather and climate extremes, agricultural production systems, and water availability and consumption. Insights on sustainable management of regional and global agricultural systems, following an integrated approach to water-food security informed by VWT strategy, will also be discussed.
CONTACT INFO:
Alexander Lawrie
Strategic Research Partnerships Liaison
alawrie@trentu.ca
Posted on April 12, 2021