ERA-ARD

International Conferences:

« Dialogue between Europe and its Southern partners
on agricultural research and climate change »

Brussels, 16-17 December 2009

For online registration click here

Background

Agriculture is greatly exposed to climate change and consequences are already visible: e.g. increased variations in crop yields, adaptation of new plant species, re-emergence of parasitic and zoonotic diseases, shortage of water resources, expansion of areas of salinization.

The critical role that agriculture can play in fighting poverty and hunger and ensuring food safety has been highly compromised, especially in Southern regions such as in Sub-Saharan Africa. A major food crisis in these regions will have a direct impact on Europe. Therefore, the consequences of climate change on agriculture must be addressed at a global level. For Europe, it means that agricultural research programmes must not be coordinated only among European countries, but in close interaction with the Southern regions.

Over the last couple of years, significant progress has been made in terms of improved coordination and cooperation between European national programmes in agricultural research through SCAR (Standing Committee for Agricultural Research) and through EIARD (European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development) and, more recently, ERA-ARD (an EC FP6-funded project) for its agricultural research for development (ARD) dimension.

ERA-ARD, SCAR and EIARD, with a special support of CIRAD, the French agricultural research centre for international development, the ERA-ARD Coordinator, co-organise an International Conference entitled: « Dialogue between Europe and its Southern partners on agricultural research and climate change »

This conference aims at facilitating the identification and initiating coordination of European agricultural research programmes for mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change for mutual benefit of Europe and its Southern partners. It is why it has been registred as a major contribution to the COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Conference objectives

The conference will focus on three major themes:

What are the challenges and why a dialogue between Europe and its Southern partners is necessary?
Initial mapping of on-going and planned agricultural research programmes related to climate change in Europe and the Southern regions.
Priorities for the future: What are the research priorities and coordination mechanisms to be put in place for reducing the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector? What could be the agenda of a European joint programme initiative in this field?

Date and Time

The International Conference will take place on 17th December 2009 (09h00 - 17h30). It will be preceded by a special event on 16th December 2009 (18h30 - 21h00): a debate on "Climate change: a world challenge for agricultural research", illustrated by a clip of "Home" (a film by: Yann Arthus Bertrand) and followed by a cocktail.

Venue

16th December 2009 (Debate, cocktail): Charlemagne Building, 170 Rue de la Loi, BE-1049 Brussels, Belgium. 17th December 2009 (International Conference): Centre de Conférences Albert Borschette (CCAB), 36 rue Froissart, Brussels, Belgium.

Participants

The conference will bring together 120 key policy-makers and research experts in the fields of agriculture, research and international cooperation, members of ERA-ARD, SCAR, EIARD and partners from Southern countries. For online registration and further information, please consult: www.era-ard.org CIRAD Centre