BEIJING, In a milestone move, Chinese, Pakistani and Turkish researchers on Saturday published two English monographs on climate-smart agriculture as the world is struggling to maintain and increase agriculture production against the backdrop of growing climate change.
The two publications, Sustainable Soil and Land Management and Climate Change and Climate Change and Plants, investigate the historical, current and future effects of climate change on plants and global agriculture production, and propose corresponding approaches and management strategies to mitigate the effects of high and low temperatures, drought and saline soils.
The work also contribute to climate-smart agriculture (CSA), which is an approach promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate.
The timing of the publications could not be better as global warming have taken a heavy toll on crop yields.
“Scientists have proved that grain yield of rice declines by 10% for each 1°C increase in nighttime minimum temperature in 2004. Even now, agricultural and natural ecosystems in many parts of the world are unable to adapt to rising temperatures and suffer devastating damage.” said Dr Wang Depeng, professor at the College of Life Science of Linyi University and co-editor of the two publications, in an exclusive interview with China Economic Net (CEN).
The two works can help to promote sustainable agriculture, in line with the second goal of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to Dr Wu Chao, associate research fellow at the Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-editor of the two publications.
“The publications can provide researchers, experts and policymakers with theoretical and practical know-how to explore the sustainable development of crops.” He added, “We’re working with Pakistani and Turkish researchers to further explore the avenues for sustainable agriculture production. And three other publications in this regard will come out this year.”
According to Prof Dr Wang, more such international collaboration and communication and collaboration in agricultural research are ongoing under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
“Scholars from the BRI countries have different research advantages in this field and we can work together to conduct research and make our share of contributions to ensuring global food security.”
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