How can Bioforsk contribute to Chinese-Norwegian collaboration on environmental

issues ?

Challenges related to food production, agriculture and rural development.

Nils VagstadDirector of Research

Norwegian Inst for Agricultural and Environmental Research

Ellen Merethe MagnusDirector – Bioforsk/Plant Health and Plant Protection Division

SINCIERE Member Forum Beijing October 19, 2007

Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research

Established in 2006; by merging three former institutes

Three major fields of activities

• Environment protection and natural resources management

• Multifunctional and sustainable agriculture, and rural development

• Plant science, plant protection and bio-technology

Organisation• Total staff about 500 • Annual turnover about

EUR 45 mill • 7 Research divisions

Organisational Structure

Director General

Techn/adm services

Arctic Agriculture and Land Use

Arable Crops

Horticulture and Urban Greening

Grassland andLandscapes

Soil and Environment

Organic Food and Farming

Plant Health and Plant Protection

Dir of ResearchDir of Finances

Important fields of activity linked to environment

• Sustainable land use and agricultural practices - for long-term food security and protection of the environment

• Watershed management - Integrated land and water resources management to prevent the degradation of water resources and soils.

• Food safety and plant health – to provide consumers with safe products.

• Integrated Pest Management – to enhance food quality and reduce the environmental risks of pesticides.

• Wastes, wastewater and sanitation – recycling of valuable resources and preventing the degradation of waters and soil.

• Toxic substances and eco-system effects – characterisation and risk assessment for efficient management and subsequent remediation measures

• Climate changes – processes, impacts and adaptations

• Environmental Monitoring; strategies and system design, technology and solutions for a wide range for variables and indicators

The conceptual approach of the EC Water Framework Directive – guide and framework to our approach on working with sustainability issues

DPSIR: A society - ecosystem whole-chain approach

Drivers

Pressures

State

Impacts

Response

Watershed Management

The EC Water Framework Directive requires a comprehensive assessment of State and Pressures and a Plan of measures to meet strict ecological quality targets for the water resources

- Research in order to support the implementation of appropriate and optimal measures

- Research in order to understand critical eco-system functioning and processes linked to land-water interactions

- Development of tools, models and decision support systems

• sq

If you are going to solve the “problems” you have to go to the roots of the problems

•Agriculture, food production, development of the rural societies – key drivers for sustainable development, including the protection of our natural resources and the environment

• THUS – many of the challenges linked to environment and natural resources management cannot be solved without having the agricultural sector onboard

By 2025, there will be an estimated 2 billion more people to feed

Everyone will be affected by this huge challenge

More food either by;• More land to produce food on -

and/or• Higher yields per land area –

- more efficient utilisation of applied inputs to the production

(e.g. nutrients, water, etc) - larger (external) inputs to the

production and plantsthat can respond to it

Increases (%) in Meat production and in Population; 1961-2002

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1961

1965

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Re

lati

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61

Pigmeat

Chicken meat

Population

Development in Cereal Yields 1965-2003

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•The environmental impacts correlate strongly to:- amount and type of food produced- total area used for production- the efficiency in resource utilisation and the system productivity

The Key Challenge

Producing more food while maintaining full focus on:

Food Quality and Safety; i.e human health impacts

Environmental impacts, - in particular the contamination of soil and water, and the

ecosystem risks linked to e.g. GM crops and GMO

Degrading of the natural resources, e.g. land, waters, bio-diversity, - and not to forget – the limited Phosphorus resources

The Water Issue and the Need for Adequate Water

1.2 billion people lack access to satisfactory drinking water, more than 2.4 billion have unsatisfactory sanitory conditions

3.5 million children die every year due to waterborne diseases

Water pollution, erosion, floods and draughts are common features in many countries of the world

Growing more food means using more waterScenarios year 2025 indicate that the number of people living in countries with ”water stress” will increase to 3 billion, i.e. six times more than today

• Depending on their diet and where their food is grown, each person is responsible for the conversion of 2000 to 5000 liters of liquid water to vapor each day.

• To produce one kilogram of grain, plants must transform between 500 and 4000 liters of water into vapor through the process of evapotranspiration

• The daily amount of water we drink (2 to 5 liters) and use for household tasks (50 to 200 liters per person) seems insignificant when compared to the amount of water we ’eat’

•More crop per drop

•Virtual water

Virtual water

It seems logical for countries lacking water resources to import staple food from water abundant countries, thus saving their scarce water resources for higher value uses. In this way food importers essentially buy water resources from exporters. This is commonly referred to as virtual water trade (Allan 1998, Oki et al 2003, Hoekstra and Hung 2002).

Decisions, management and practices on the basis ofKnowledge and Documentation

• Tools and systems to enhance sustainable practices

• Tools and systems for policy support

• Tools and systems to document the impacts of actions taken

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0 20 40 60 80 100120 140 160

Kg N ha in Fertilisers

Yie

ld ,

t ha

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Fertilisers and N losses

N lo

ss in

Kg

ha

Yield

N loss

6,89

2,64

0,52 0,32

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Max Mean

Kg P

/ha*

yr

Pig farms

Catchments

Scientific based decision support

Risk Assessments, e.g. linked to •Nutrients and soil erosion•Pesticides•GM crops

Life Cycle Analyses (LCA), e.g. •The water footprint•The Carbon footprint

Management and science……Communicating and understanding

Research

Under-standing

Ideas

Science

Design solution

Implementation

Problem

Management

Our main focus:Bridging Sustainability

Food

Environmen

t

Agricultur

e