Climate change will, in general, affect agriculture negatively in developing counties, primarily because they are located in regions of the world where temperature is not limiting, but where the droughts, intense rainfall, and flooding associated with climate change will have severe negative impacts. The session will discuss the uncertainty of these climate change impacts not only on agricultural systems but also on livelihoods and social systems. The session will cover adaptation to climate change, and the extent to which this should be achieved by improving crop genetypes (e.g. through GMO crops) or by improving system resilience (e.g. by improving soil fertility). In some developing countries (e.g. Brazil and Indonesia) the main source of GHG emissions is deforestation caused by the expansion of agricultural frontiers. The need to assure that future Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) regimes contribute to sustainable land and forest management is part of this session. Access to credits made by such projects and the importance of such credits for compliance will also be part of this session.

Chair: Dean Just Jensen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Rapporteur: Thomas Færgeman, CONCITO, Denmark

Speakers: 

13.30-13.55: Dorte Verner

Senior Economist, The World Bank, Latin America and Caribbean Region, USA

Social implications of climate change in Latin America

13.55-14.15: Shivaji Pandey

Director of Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO

Improving adaptation and mitigation to climate change in agriculture in developing countries

14.15-14.30: Attah Peter Sola

Mustang Inc., Nigeria

Smalleholder  and subsistence agriculture: The impact of climate change

14.30-14.45: Monica Fisher

Scientist & Moushumi Chaudhury Counsultant, Centre for International Forestry, Indonesia Research, Indonesia

Do Forests Promote Household Adaptation to Climate Variability and Climate Change? Evidence from Southern Malawi

14.45-15.00: David Anokye Asamoah

Masters in Desert Studies, Women International Coalition Organisation, Kwabina Yeboah Ent, Ghana 

Women and Water for Development: A Practical Journey to Food Security and Poverty Reduction in Africa

15.00-15.15: Mogens Hovmøller

Senior researcher, Aarhus University, Denmark

Climate Change and Plant Disease

15.15-15.30: Posters and Discussion

Climate change is likely to worsen some of the existing pressures that agriculture exerts on the environment and on land and water resources. Agriculture is the world’s largest user of water, consuming about 80% of the global freshwater abstraction and resulting in the exploitation of many lakes and aquifers. Projections of drier conditions in many currently irrigated regions make these practices even less sustainable. Likewise, climate changes towards more extreme heat and rainfall events will most likely increase rates of nutrient losses from agricultural soils and increase soil degradation. Therefore, climate change needs to be included in a revision of current programmes for sustainable agricultural development. This session will discuss how intensive agricultural systems can be adapted to a warmer and more variable climate, while at the same time meeting current and future sustainability targets: delivering food, feed, and bioenergy while having low environmental impacts.

Chair: Head of Department Erik Steen Kristensen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Rapporteur: Thomas Færgeman, CONCITO, Denmark

Speakers:

16.00-16.30: Francesco Tubiello

Research Scientist, EU JRC, Ispra, Italy

Impacts and vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate change

16.30-16.45: Carl Åge Pedersen

Director, Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, Denmark

Climate Change Adaptation through Innovation

16.45-17.00: Kevin Eblen

Public Policy and Sustainability Lead, Monsanto

Adaption to climate change though crop varieties

17.00-17.15: Dr. Remy Manderscheid

Researcher, Institute of Biodiversity, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Germany

Effect of free air carbon dioxide enrichment combined with summer drought on water relations and crop growth in a maize field

17.15-17.30: B.F. Schaap

Researcher, Plant Research International and Alterra Research Institute, the Netherlands

Adaptive capacity of arable farming in the northern region of the Netherlands: towards integrated action

17.30-17.45: Robert H. Beach

Senior Economist, RTI International, USA

Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Water Resource Availability for Agricultural Production

17.45-18.00: Posters and Discussion

In this session, leading scientists and representatives from NGOs and the private agricultural and public development sectors will discuss how adaptation and mitigation in the agricultural sector will affect natural ecosystems and biodiversity. How can adaptation and mitigation in the agricultural sector take place without imposing additional negative pressure on natural ecosystems and on their biodiversity and bio-complexity? Potential feedback on biodiversity as an important pool of resources for agriculture, food production, and sustainable development will also be discussed.

Chair: Deputy Director General Kurt Nielsen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Rapporteur: Thomas Færgeman, CONCITO, Denmark 

Speakers:

08.00-8.35: Erik Jeppesen

Research Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark

Response of Freshwater Ecosystems to Changes in Climate and Landuse

08.35-09.10: Chris Cocklin

Professor, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, James Cook University, Australia

Systems at Peril: Climate Change, Agriculture and Biodiversity in Australia

09.10-09.40: Patrick Smith

Climate Change Specialist: Land Use and Forestry, USaid

The development imperative of linking climate change and sustainable land use: challenges, opportunities, and strategies

09.40-10.00: Christian Ege

Chairman, Ecological Council, Denmark

Green tax reforms in an EU member state - synergy between legal and economic instruments to reduce emission of climate gasses

There are increasing concerns about the effects of biofuel and bioenergy production on food and feed prices and on environmental impacts, including GHG emissions. The Renewable Energy and Climate Change Package presented by the European Commission (January 2008) emphasises that these concerns are legitimate and need to be addressed, and that minimum standards for biofuel production are being set out in the proposals. The consequences of the Ethanol Programme on food prices as well as an increase of urban air pollution are among the challenges that Brazil faces as a developing country focusing on the economic viability of ethanol. In a broader context, it is important to raise the issue of which energy crops and which conversion technologies can best meet the challenges of providing sufficient energy with low cost and high GHG reductions, while preserving soil and water resources and maintaining food and feed production. The session will address the reconciliation of these often conflicting goals. This is a major challenge, and many more studies - and technologies - are needed.

Chair: Head of Department Morten Dam Rasmussen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Rapporteur: Thomas Færgeman, CONCITO, Denmark

Speakers:

10.30-11.00: Stephen P. Long

Professor, Energy Biosciences Institute, University of Illinois, USA

Selecting the right crops for biofuels and bioenergy

11.00-11.15: Pål Börjessen

Associate Professor, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Sweden

Good or bad biofuels from a greenhouse gas perspective – What determines this?

11.45-12.00: Siri Pugesgaard, Tommy Dalgaard and Uffe Jørgensen

PhD-students, Aarhus University, Denmark

Bioenergy production in organic farming - environmental gains and risks

12.00-12.15: Carl Chr. Hoffmann

Senior Researcher, Aarhus University, Denmark

Establishment of emission factors for cultivated organic soils in Denmark

12.15-12.30: Posters and Discussion

Much of the agricultural GHG emissions can be avoided through adoption of better management practices, and some of the expansion of agriculture into forested land could be avoided through better management of the already-cleared land. Improving GHG management in agriculture and forestry requires proper incentives, and these incentives need to be linked to current agricultural, environmental, and trade policies, many of which seem to have been counterproductive to reducing GHG emissions. There are also many outstanding methodological issues when it comes to quantifying GHG emissions from agriculture and forestry and implementing effective mitigation schemes, especially when it comes to mitigation of carbon losses from vegetation and soils. The session will discuss how agricultural systems may eventually be developed to deliver almost GHG-neutral food and feed production.

Chair: Professor Bent T. Christensen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Rapporteur: Thomas Færgeman, CONCITO, Denmark

Speakers:

14.00-14.25: Pete Smith

Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Global greenhouse gas mitigation potential in agriculture

14.25-14.45: Alexander Mueller

Assistant Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy

Agriculture and Climate Change Mitigation

14.45-15.00: Jan Dalsgaard Johannesen

Corporate Environmental Manager, Arla Foods, Denmark

Reducing GHG Emissions – Experience from the Dairy Sector

15.00-15.15: Bruce Ball and Bob Rees

Senior soil scientists, SAC, Edinburgh, Scotland

Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils under intensive grazing

15.15-15.30: Lena Rodhe, Johnny Ascue and Åke Nordberg

Senior Research Manager, JTI – Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Sweden

Greenhouse gas emissions (CH4, N2O) from stored cattle slurry

15.30-15.45: Lars Ottosen

Postdoctoral Scholar, Aarhus University, Denmark

Microbiology and how to manage GHG emissions from livestock waste

15.45-16.00: Posters and Discussion