The spotlight on sustainable development and climate change action burned brightly during #GlobalDev Week in New York. CGIAR made the journey to listen, learn and most importantly demonstrate to the policymakers involved in these important discussions just how indispensable the role agriculture research is in these contexts.
Why? At our first Development Dialogues conference, the point was summed up neatly by Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Center. Agriculture is one of the main culprits for pushing the boundaries of our planet to the edge, as it accounts for over 70 percent of water use and generates around 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. However, agriculture — and the research that drives innovation in agriculture — can and should play just as a significant role in the solutions for the immense challenges of protecting the environment, fighting climate change and feeding 9 billion people by 2050.
So is CGIAR ready to live up to that challenge? Here are just three ideas that the discussions uncovered at the Development Dialogues.
About the author
Frank Rijsberman
Frank Rijsberman is CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, a global partnership of 15 international agricultural research Centers with the shared vision of a food secure future. With over thirty years' experience as a researcher and consultant in natural resources management, Frank is leading the implementation of this vision through a coherent portfolio of research programs focusing on increasing food security, improving nutrition and health, reducing rural poverty, and protecting the environment.
