KREI News
President Kim Changgil of the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) held an international symposium on "Climate-Smart Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges" in the Garnet Room at the Lotte Hotel, Seoul, from 10:30 a.m. on October 13 (Thursday).
Climate-smart agriculture refers to an agricultural system which pursues an increase in productivity as well as the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. With the worsening of the global food problem due to climate change expected, climate-smart agriculture considering the food production aspect of farming has received international attention as the desirable direction for agricultural policy in response to climate change.
This symposium consisted of four sessions: "Climate-Smart Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges"; "Policy Cases Concerning Climate-Smart Agriculture"; "Field Cases of Climate-Smart Agriculture Practice"; and "Discussion on Viable Climate-Smart Agriculture Programs." The participants examined the concept and success cases of climate-smart agriculture and the economic feasibility of related policies, and discussed difficulties in applying climate-smart agriculture and their solutions.
Dr. Marandola of the Italian Council for Agricultural Research and Economics explained the EU policy which values the environment and climate, and introduced a no-till practice as Italy's success case of climate-smart agriculture. He also explained how the Italian government helps farmers to adopt no-tillage utilizing regional development programs. Director Kim Jeonguk of the Creative Agri-food Division, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, explained the implementation process of climate-smart agriculture policy in Korea, and introduced farm crop insurance and smart farms. Dr. Jeong Hakkyun of KREI pointed out that it is necessary to develop climate-smart agriculture technologies and policies which are suitable for Korea's reality, stressing the context-specific features of climate-smart agriculture.
In the second session, OECD Economist Lankoski introduced a theoretical model which quantitatively analyzes the synergy and conflicting relationship between climate-smart agriculture technology and policy, and the results of an empirical study on its application to the US corn belt. He also explained a plan to apply his model to a Korean case. Dr. Polman of Wageningen Economic Research introduced a success case of climate-smart agriculture in the Netherlands, and the policy tools which resulted in the success of Dutch climate-smart agriculture: sustainable recycling in the dairy industry; the application of technology improving energy efficiency in greenhouses; and an integrated water management system in a delta.
In the last presentation session, Research Fellow Kwon Hoyoung of the International Food Policy Research Institute showed empirical analysis results using the IMPACT model. He emphasized that climate-smart agriculture has contributed to the enhancement of climate change potential in the agricultural sector and can play a key role in strengthening cooperation among institutions responding to climate change. Senior Specialist Braimoh of the World Bank pointed out the benefits of climate-smart agriculture, and said that policy packages, investment, economic incentives, and policies considering culture and gender would be the methods to overcome potential obstacles to the implementation of climate-smart agriculture.
President Kim Changgil stressed that climate-smart agriculture should be the direction for Korean agricultural policy, pointing out that previous agricultural policies responding to climate change relatively neglected productivity and income.
- next
- KREI Held Talk Concert on Gardens for Children"s Personality Education
- prev
- Cooperation for Food Securement and Adaptation Technology to Climate Change