The Role of RDE and the Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries

Dr Michael Robinson

•CCRSPI•Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre

• The evidence is clear, and consistent with theory and the models.

• ''It's a no-brainer. If you go over the last couple of decades you see tens of thousands of papers in the peer-reviewed literature, and you have less than 10 that challenge the fundamentals - and they have been disproved ... Right now, this almost infantile debate about whether 'is it real or isn't it real?', it's like saying, 'Is the Earth round or is it flat?’.”

Professor Steffen said after an address at the Australian Davos Connection's Future Summit, The Age

Climate Change

• “Australia has slipped further behind the world in dealing with climate change”

Professor Ross Garnaut, Feb 2, as reported ABC Radio

– ( … and the rest of the world is behind already!)

• Why?– (other than it being a diabolical problem!)

– Scientific ‘uncertainty’

– The lucky country

– Food production and climate variability

Challenges and opportunities

Australia – the lucky country …

• “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”

Food security

• “We’re in the midst of a global food crisis – the second in three years … an important trigger for popular rage …

• … the evidence does, in fact, suggest that what we're getting now is a first taste of the disruption, economic and political, that we will face in a warming world”

Paul Krugam, The Age, Feb 8, 2011

Food crisis

UK Ministry of Defence threat assessment, 2008

“The likelihood of a food crisis directly affecting the Australian population may appear remote given that we have enjoyed cheap, safe and high quality food for many decades and we produce enough food today to feed 60 million people.” PMSEIC (2010). Australia and Food Security in a Changing World. The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and

Innovation Council, Canberra, Australia

In a land of drought and flooding rains …

• “Australia produces enough food to feed about 60 million people …

• produces almost 93 per cent of Australia’s daily domestic food supply ...

• exports 60 per cent (in volume) of total agricultural production ...

• feeds some 40 million people each day outside Australia ...”PMSEIC (2010). Australia and Food Security in a Changing World.

The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, Canberra, Australia

Food production

• We’ve farmed successfully for decades

• We’ve always had hard conditions

• We’ve always had variable seasons

• We don’t see climate change, just more variability

• We don’t want to know about 2030 or 2050, tell me about the next week, the next season, the next 12 months …

• But, we do see increasing inputs costs that we can’t pass on

The farmer perspective (?)

• An urban population that is largely ambivalent as food security and climate change hasn’t impacted them directly

• Rural stakeholders who experience highly variable climate on an annual basis where the majority of decisions are made

• Scientific uncertainty ≠ public uncertainty

• Our politicians who have a ‘diabolical problem’ to address

The perception challenge

• Increase food production – a responsibility and an opportunity

• Exporting know how – a responsibility and an opportunity

• Exporting scientific capacity – an opportunity

• We should build on our ‘third world’ conditions and first world research and be the world’s centre of excellence!

Opportunity for Australia

• Represent! – We know the dangers ahead so we have a responsibility to represent

our (quality) science to achieve change

• Understand! – Our end-users, especially the importance of climate variability

• Deliver! – Efficient, effective , integrated and quality RDE

– to support climate-resilient, productive, environmentally and socially sustainable landscapes

Role of science community …

The Agricultural and Science agenda

Productivity research

Genetics, disease,nutrition, irrigation,production systems

Climate Change response research Methane reduction, nitrous oxide reduction, soil carbon

adaptation

National Research Agenda FundingIndustry and governments

Agricultural productivity National responsibilities

The Agricultural and Science agenda

National Research AgendaIndustry and governments

Agricultural profitability and national responsibilities

Productivity and climate change

research

After Barlow, 2010

• Towards more efficient and effective research, development and extension to address the challenges and opportunities of climate change for primary industries in Australia ...

• Collaborating, coordinating and communicating …

• … working together on climate change …

CCRSPI …

• An updated national cross-sectoral RDE strategy:– Towards climate-resilient, productive, environmentally and socially

sustainable landscapes

• A national database of RDE activity

• Analysis of gaps and development of opportunities

Deliverables

• Note: – we don’t direct agencies …

– We don’t fund research

• Communication– A central hub, for you to use, linked with PIARN (ccrspi.org.au)

– Represent Primary Industries RDE

• Knowledge exchange, at multiple levels, at multiple times– Conferences, workshops, stakeholder interactions

• Work cross-sectoral, integrated– Themes not aligned to sectors or disciplines

How

• The global picture, the food challenges, the vision for agriculture.

• Unpicking the policy environment.

• How can we do RDE better?

• Where are we at? Where do we need to go?

• Sharing the science

• Listening to our producers

• Communicating with the broader public

The Conference

• We have a moral obligation to represent our science strongly to ensure a rapid response.

• Science has been the basis for our productivity gains, and will be in the future.

• Our science must be more efficient and effective, of the highest quality, with a greater emphasis on the integrated landscape and the social and environmental dimensions of sustainable production.

• CCRSPI will work to improve the national RDE effort by:– Providing an RDE vision and strategy

– Enhancing collaboration and co-ordination by exchanges of knowledge

The role of RDE and CCRSPI