Chennai, February 13, 2017: “Collaboration in agriculture and food security is crucial to deal with climate change”, said Mr Jon Georg Dale, Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Norway here today. Speaking at M S Swaminathan Research Foundation at a consultation on climate change, he said “Food security is top of the global agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Agriculture must be at the heart of development and we must use water and other resources sustainably.” The minister announced that Norway was committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and was taking several initiatives to meet this target.

The meeting was held to share impact of the ‘Clima Adapt’ project that reaches out to over 41,000 farm families in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The project aims to provide capacity and knowledge for farmers to deal with climate change and its effects with sensitivity to gender issues.

Prof M S Swaminathan, Founder MSSRF spoke of the Svalbard global seed vault with 800,000 accessions from across the world referred to as “Noah’s Ark” by National Geographic in Norway. He lauded Norway for its leadership in food security, genetic resources conservation and climate change.

Dr Nils Vagstad, Director General, NIBIO Norway emphasized on need for co-operation to face up to climate change challenges. “No one can solve it all alone. We need international co-operation, to share ideas. We are proud of this long-lasting co-operation between India and Norway.”

Ms. Hanne Meldgard, Deputy Chief of Mission, Royal Norwegian Embassy expressed happiness in the project results noting that these things take time required a pragmatic approach.

Dr S N A Jinnah CGM, NABARD, Tamil Nadu suggested that learning from indigenous knowledge systems needs built into the policy framework. He spoke of the struggle to raise finance for climate change projects, especially related to climate and water and he reiterated the need for collective action in conserving and using natural resources.

On rising concerns on sea level rise due to climate change, Dr V Selvam, Executive Director MSSRF shared the mangrove restoration innovation that MSSRF pioneered two decades ago.

Dr Nagothu Udaya Sekhar, Director NIBIO, Norway said the key to effective climate change project was smart, simple and low-cost technology and various sectors needed to converge.

The meeting included detailed discussions on Climate change, agriculture and food security with experts on technology, extension and gender dimensions that need to be intensified on the field.