Connections between Climate Change and Agricultural Production

The agriculture industry accounts for one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to fertiliser use, livestock farming and changes in land use. At the same time, farming is the sector most heavily impacted by climate change and must adapt to altered temperatures and changes in the water cycle.

Prevention of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change therefore pose key challenges for the future of agriculture. These circumstances form the backdrop of the IAMO Forum in Halle (Saale) to be held from 17 to 19 June 2015.

Experts in the fields of science, economics and politics from all over the world will discuss the connections between climate change and agriculture, focussing on the transformation countries of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and East Asia.

Through three plenary sessions, sixteen parallel sessions and a podium discussion, the IAMO Forum 2015, entitled “Agriculture and Climate Change in Transition Economies”, offers a platform for topics dealing with the impact of climate change on agricultural production, greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural production and adaptation of farming practices to climate change.

The conference will open on 17 June 2015 with a plenary session entitled “Regional Assessments of Options for Mitigation and Adaptation”. Pete Smith (University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK) and Maximilian Auffhammer (University of California, Berkeley, USA) will give their presentations on this subject. In addition, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), will provide the audience with keynote address on climate risks and food security.

On the second day (18 June 2015), Jikun Huang (Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) and Vladimir Romanenkov (All-Russian Institute of Agrochemistry, Moscow, Russia) will give a talk at the plenary session on the subject of “Farm-Level and Case Study Insights”. During the last plenary session on 19 June 2015, Leslie Lipper (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy) and Hermann Lotze-Campen (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany) will focus on opportunities and challenges of climate-smart agriculture.

In a subsequent moderated discussion round, representatives from German and international agribusiness, international organisations, and research will debate on the perspectives for “climate-smart agriculture” and the challenges and opportunities for an efficient and adaptable agricultural production with reduced climate-effecting emissions. Keynote speakers and discussants could be engaged, Leslie Lipper (FAO, Italy), Hermann Lotze-Campen (PIK, Germany), Liudmila Orlova (The National Movement for Conservation Agriculture, Russia), Jikun Huang (Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy, China), Inna Meteleva (Svarog West Group, Ukraine), Georg Vierling (Südzucker International GmbH, Germany) and Wolfgang Vogel (Farmers’ Association in Saxony, Germany), with IAMO director Alfons Balmann as moderator. All interested participants can attend the last day of the conference free of charge and there will be simultaneous translation in German and English.

Additional information and the conference programme are available at the following website: www.iamo.de/forum/2015

The IAMO Forum 2015 is organised by the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) in cooperation with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The third day of the conference will be held in collaboration with the German Agribusiness Alliance, Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations (OA), with the support of the Edmund Rehwinkel Foundation. Funding for the entire event is provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Ministry of Science and Economic Affairs of Saxony-Anhalt, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Rentenbank – Edmund Rehwinkel Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Media representatives are very welcome at the IAMO Forum 2015. We would be glad to schedule interviews with experts at the conference for you. If you are interested in attending the event free of charge please email the following address by 11 June 2015: presse@iamo.de

About IAMO

The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) analyzes economic, social and political processes of change in the agricultural and food sector, and in rural areas. The geographic focus covers the enlarging EU, transition regions of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Asia. IAMO works to enhance the understanding of institutional, structural and technological changes. Moreover, IAMO studies the resulting impacts on the agricultural and food sector as well as the living conditions of rural populations. The outcomes of our work are used to derive and analyze strategies and options for enterprises, agricultural markets and politics. Since its founding in 1994, IAMO has been part of the Leibniz Association, a German community of independent research institutes.

Media contact

Daniela Schimming
Public Relations
Tel.: +49 345 2928-330
Fax: +49 345 2928-499
presse@iamo.de
www.iamo.de