The Replacement of Fossil Fuel with Renewable Energy not only needs perpetual investment but also change in the investment decisions said Prof. John H Perkins Member of the Faculty Emeritus, Washington USA.
He was speaking at the Prof. David Pimentel Memorial Lecture during the IES International Conference 2022 on Sustainable Agricultural Innovations for Resilient Agri-Food Systems organized at SKUAST-Jammu, Chatha.
He was also of the opinion that the consequences of climate change will result in decline of food production resulting in high prices, malnutrition and famine.During the second day of the International Conference three keynote sessions on the themes viz., Agriculture and Forestry on Path Towards Carbon Neutrality; Public Health, Food Security and Safety; Genetics Innovations for Climate resilient Agri-food systems were conducted in which speakers from all over the world deliberated on different topics.
Dr. Alice C Hughes from Hongkong deliberated on Exploring synergies between bio-diversity and carbon across scale and endorsed revisit post 2020 biodiversity frame work. Dr. Virender Pal Singh in his talk said that there is a need to have a fresh look at the research, teaching and extension protocol and to develop new ones to suit the current needs.
He further added that a Global bio energy research support facility needs to be established.Dr. Swoyambhu Man Amatya from Nepal, in his speech, said that the South Asian Countries should take a lead role in identifying carbon neutral agro-forestry practices and implement them as appropriate.
He also said that International commitment needs to be fulfilled in case of agro forestry programmes.Dr. Pratap Singh Birthal, Dr. Purnima Menon and Dr. Shannon Olsson spoke during the keynote session – III.
They said collaborative approach is the need of the hour for holistic development and Nutritional security should be the top most priority of every nation. Dr. Menon further added that Millets can play a vital role for addressing malnutrition problems but it should be worked along with cereals and not in isolation.
Prof. Matin Qaim from University of Bonn, Germany deliberated on Actual and Potential Effects of Genetically Modified Crops; Dr. B. M. Prasanna from CIMMYT delivered his talk on Breeding and deploying climate resilient maize varieties in the tropics.