Call for Application: APYF 2013 on Mountain issues and Post 2015 Development Agenda, Kathmandu, Nepal

AGRICULTURE BLOG.....

Through its Asia-Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has been engaging youth and building their capacity to bring about positive changes in society through several different initiatives. Since it began in 2009, the global membership of the Youth Engagement in Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD) initiative has grown to 5,000 members, a majority of which are from ICIMOD’s regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. In 2010, ICIMOD started organizing youth forums in member countries to build the technical capacity and leadership skills of youth in the region as well as to enhance their knowledge on the most burning issues in mountain development. The Asia-Pacific Youth Forum on Climate Actions and Mountain Issues in 2011 and the Asia Pacific Graduates’ Youth Forum on Green Economy in 2012 were expanded to include the entire Asia-Pacific region, and…

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What are Climate-Smart Villages?

AGRICULTURE BLOG.....

by Cecilia Schubert and Dharini Parthasarathy

It is not unusual for farmers to give up on agriculture when repeatedly having to deal with erratic and extreme weather events. For Horil Singh, a farmer from Rajapakar in India, changes in the summer temperatures and delayed rainfall severely affected his crop planning.

“We have seen the weather change to a great extent” he said in a sit-down interview, “now low or delayed rainfall have become the norm.”

The question is, how can a farmer plan for the unexpected? And where does he turn when the rains have failed him yet again?

At the moment, our South Asia Regional Program is working hard to implement and scale-up something called the ‘Climate-Smart Village’ model project. The project has reached the furthest in the area of Bihar in India, where a number of videos have been shot, showcasing the activities.

“These villages will serve as benchmark…

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Call for Application: Research Training Fellowship for Developing Country Scientists 2013-2014

AGRICULTURE BLOG.....

The Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries, NAM S&T Centre invites applications from the scientists of the developing countries for the award of Fellowships under its ‘Research Training Fellowship for Developing Country Scientists (RTF-DCS)’ scheme for the year 2013-14.

The salient features of the RTF-DCS programme are as under:-

          (i)    No. of Fellowships being offered: 20

          (ii)   Duration of Fellowship: 6 months

         (iii)  Broad Disciplines in which Fellowship are available: Agricultural Sciences; Biological and Medical Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Earth Sciences; Engineering Sciences;  Materials, Minerals and Metallurgy; and Multi-disciplinary & Other Areas.

        (iv)   Eligibility Conditions: Scientists/ researchers from any developing country (except India) below 40 years of age, possessing at least a Master’s Degree in any Natural Science subject or equivalent degree in Engineering or Medicine and allied disciplines.

        (v)  

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Climate Change and Organic Agriculture in Nepal: A Review

Author: Khem Raj Dahal (Email: d.khemraj@ymail.com)

Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan 

 

ABSTRACT

Climate change is one of the most serious environmental threats facing humanity today. The scientific consensus is that human activity is very likely the cause for this change. Climate change has impacts on almost all spheres of human concerns and activities among which the impact on agriculture is of a great trepidation. Agriculture also affects climate change by contributing about twenty percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable agriculture with environmentally safe food production and climate resilience quality is an urgent need of the time. Organic agriculture has long been appreciated for its ecological soundness, environmental safety and productivity with synergistic benefits including adaptation to climate change and mitigating it. Organic agriculture sequesters carbon in the soil and is likely to emit less CO₂ and N₂O. In addition, it promotes, manages and enhances biodiversity which offers more beneficial interactions among the components of agriculture and enhances its sustainability. It is of a particular importance for Nepal, where escalating resource degradation; increasing climatic stresses and consequent vulnerability; and decreasing food production have become chronic. This paper succinctly throws light on the relationship between climate change and agriculture and specifically on organic agriculture vis-à-vis climate change in general and in Nepalese context in particular.

 

Key words: Nepalese agriculture, Climate change, Green house gases, Carbon sequestration, Adaptation, Mitigation, Livelihood, Organic agriculture

 

Originally published in Nepalese Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2012, vol 10 and full article is available at http://hicast.edu.np/reports-19-Nepalese_Journal_of_Agricultural_Sciences_

Greenery: the basic source for adaptation to changing climate