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Appendix 01: Speakers’ summary notes
Climate-smart agriculture in rice production systems: From concept to implementation within the regional context of Southeast Asia
R. WASSMANN; B.O. SANDER
PLENARY SESSION 5:
EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE AND LAND USING SYSTEMS AND FROM FOOD CONSUMPTION
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) denotes the merger of adaptation (adjusting to climate change) and mitigation (reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions) into one comprehensive approach. This concept and the term “CSA” are now widely used as a new paradigm by many institutions and initiatives. However, at this point only few examples exist where CSA has actually been implemented at significant scale.
Rice production represents a particularly relevant example for demonstrating the scope of CSA. This can mainly be attributed to the importance of this crop for food security and the fact, that rice is also a significant source of the Greenhouse Gas methane. In terms of adaptation, improved rice varieties are the key for coping with direct and indirect impacts such as floods, droughts and salinity. In addition to more resilient rice plants, short-maturing varieties can be adopted in order to avoid climate stresses by adjusted cropping calendars and also reduce methane emissions due to shorter flooding periods.
Moreover, several crop and water management practices can form integral parts of CSA in rice production. “Alternate Wetting and Drying” (AWD) is an irrigation technique originally developed for saving water and coping with water scarcity. This practice also reduces emissions by 30-70 % as has been shown in several field studies in Southeast Asian countries. Mechanization trends in rice cultivation include climate-smart practices such as laser leveling and direct seeding that reduce water needs and emissions.
The presentation will discuss implementation of CSA practices in rice production through several case studies that encompass different rice growing environments and drivers of impacts:
• Sea level rise causing higher flood and salinity risks in mega-deltas where irrigated rice is the predominant crop (e.g. in Southern Vietnam) => CSA options: improved varieties with combined flood and salinity tolerance and adjusted cropping calendar
• Variability in the onset of the rainy season in regions dominated by rainfed rice (e.g. Southern Laos) => CSA options: direct seeding in combination with drought-tolerant varieties
• Strong winds during weather hazards such as typhoons (e.g. Philippines) => CSA option: rice varieties with high lodging resistance
• Water scarcity due to El Nino events that are often exacerbated by competing water demand from other sectors, e.g. in the vicinity of large cities such as Manila => CSA option: AWD reducing water demand
Due to the specific drivers of climate change, these cases require distinct adaptation strategies. At the same time, the dynamic changes in the rice production systems also offer synergies for increasing resource use efficiency and thus, for mitigation.
FAO-IPCC Expert meeting on climate change, land use and food security