SINCIERE Member Forum
Beijing October 19, 2007
How can Bioforsk contribute to Chinese-Norwegian
collaboration on environmental issues ?
Challenges related to food production,
agriculture and rural development.
Nils Vagstad
Director of Research
Norwegian Inst for Agricultural and Environmental Research
Ellen Merethe Magnus
Director – Bioforsk/Plant Health and Plant Protection Division
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 biotechnology
Organisation
• Total staff about 500
• Annual turnover about
EUR 45 mill
• 7 Research divisions
Organisational
Structure
Director General
Dir of Finances
Dir of Research
Techn/adm
services
Arctic Agriculture
and Land Use
Arable
Crops
Soil and
Environment
Organic Food
and Farming
Horticulture and
Urban Greening
Plant Health and
Plant Protection
Grassland and
Landscapes
Important fields of activity linked to
environment
• Sustainable land use and agricultural
practices - for long-term food security
and protection of the environment
• Wastes, wastewater and sanitation –
recycling of valuable resources and
preventing the degradation of waters
and soil.
• Watershed management - Integrated
land and water resources management
to prevent the degradation of water
resources and soils.
• Toxic substances and eco-system
effects – characterisation and risk
assessment for efficient management
and subsequent remediation measures
• Food safety and plant health – to
provide consumers with safe products.
• Climate changes – processes, impacts
and adaptations
• Integrated Pest Management – to
enhance food quality and reduce the
environmental risks of pesticides.
• 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
Increases (% ) in Meat production
and in Population; 1961-2002
500
450
Relative to yr 1961
400
More food either by;
Chicken meat
Population
300
250
200
150
100
50
19
61
19
65
19
69
19
73
19
77
19
81
19
85
19
89
19
93
19
97
20
01
0
Development in Cereal Yields
1965-2003
6
Yield in t/ha
5
4
3
2
1
0
19
65
19
68
19
71
19
74
19
77
19
80
19
83
19
86
19
89
19
92
19
95
19
98
20
01
• 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 plants that can
respond to it
350
Pigmeat
•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 water
Scenarios 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 of
Knowledge and Documentation
60
5
50
4
40
3
30
2
20
Yield
1
N loss in Kg ha
Yield , t ha
• Tools and systems to enhance
sustainable practices
Fertilisers and N losses
6
10
N loss
0
0
0 20 40 60 80 100120 140 160
• Tools and systems to document
the impacts of actions taken
8
7
Pig farms
6,89
Catchments
6
Kg P/ha*yr
• Tools and systems for policy
support
Kg N ha in Fertilisers
5
4
2,64
3
2
1
0,52
0,32
0
Max
Mean
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
Management
Problem
Design
solution
Implementation
Science
Ideas
Research
Understanding
Our main focus:
Bridging Sustainability
Environment
Food
Agriculture