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| Titel |
15 years in promoting the use of isotopic and nuclear technique for combating land degradation and soil erosion: the contribution of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture |
| VerfasserIn |
Lionel Mabit, Arsenio Toloza, Lee Heng |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250140228
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-3586.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The world population will exceed 9 billion by the year 2050 and food production will need to
be approximately doubled to meet this crucial demand. Most of this increase will occur in
developing countries, where the majority of the population depends on agriculture and their
land for their livelihoods.
Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted negative
impact of climate change, threatening global food security. In addition, the intensification of
agricultural activities has increased pressure on land and water resources, resulting in
different forms of soil degradation, of which soil erosion and associated sedimentation
are worsening. Worldwide economic costs of agricultural soil loss and associated
sedimentation downstream have been estimated at US $400 billion per year. As a
result of climate change, world average soil erosion is expected to further increase
significantly.
Adapting to climate change requires agricultural soil and water management practices
that make agricultural production systems resilient to drought, floods and land degradation, to
enhance the conservation of the natural resource base for sustainable upland farming. These
current concerns with ensuring sustainable use and management of agroecosystems create an
urgent need for reliable quantitative data on the extent and magnitude of soil resource
degradation over several spatial and time scales to formulate sound policies and management
measures. Integrated isotopic approaches can help in targeting adapted and effective
soil-water conservation measures to control soil degradation and therefore contribute to
positive feedback mechanisms to mitigate climate change impact on soil and water
resources.
Set up 60 years ago as the world’s centre for cooperation in the nuclear field, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) promotes the safe, secure and peaceful use of
nuclear technologies. Since the end of the 1990s, the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear
Techniques in Food and Agriculture has developed research and development activities
and capacity building to combat soil degradation (especially soil erosion) and to
foster climate smart agriculture. More than 70 FAO/IAEA Member States have
benefitted from the technical support and guidance in using fallout radionuclides
(FRNs) and Compound-Specific Stable Isotope (CSSI) techniques to trace soil
movement and assess soil erosion at different spatial and temporal scales, and to
evaluate the effectiveness of soil conservation strategies to ensure sustainable land
management.
This contribution summarizes the historical background and the latest innovative
activities conducted by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division, as well as the main advantages and
complementarity of stable and radioisotopic tracers to conventional techniques when
investigating land degradation. As examples of the significant role played by the Joint
FAO/IAEA Division, two major outcomes achieved in Africa (i.e. Madagascar and Morocco)
through the use of isotopic and nuclear techniques will be elaborated. The authors will also
report on a new 5-year Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) funded by the IAEA on
“Nuclear Techniques for a Better Understanding of the Impact of Climate Change on Soil
Erosion in Upland Agro-ecosystems” which involves key research institutions from 12
participating countries. |
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