The 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics recognising the research of three climatologists, Professor Syukuro Manabe, Professor Klaus Hasselmann and Professor Giorgio Parisi has brought under sharp focus the threat of, what is commonly known as global warming, which, in fact, is nothing but anthropogenic warming. In simple terms “man made” atmospheric warming. In announcing the prize, Mr. Thor Hans Hansson, the Chair for Physics Nobel Committee, said “The world leaders that have n’t got the message yet, I am not sure they will get it because we are saying it. But…what we are saying is that the modelling of climate is solidly based in Physics theory”. The Nobel Committee said that it was sending a message with its prize announcement just weeks before the COP26 (Conference of Parties) climate summit in Glasgow, Britain, as the global warming sets off alarm bells around the world.
The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC, 2014) has predicted dramatic changes in climate pattern in the current century and this will inevitably adversely affect food production. If one juxtaposes the global population increase with changes in ambient temperature, a grim scenario emerges. Current projections suggest that global temperature will rise by 1.8-4 degree Celsius and the corresponding global population increase might touch 10 billion by the next decade – an increase of 142.9% from the current level of + – 7 billion, which works to about an annual increase of 1.8%.
While discussing anthropogenic global warming, one must take into account, primarily carbon dioxide, occurring primarily because of industrial activities, including automobile exhaustion. Automobile emission contributed to an increase of 200% at 40 ppm (parts per million) post-industrial phase, compared to 20 ppm pre-industrial phase. But, the more insidious is the emission of nitrous oxide, a gaseous product from urea hydrolysis, a chemical process when applied urea molecules react with soil moisture, which contributes to almost 35% global warming (Nair, 2019b). This gas, commonly known as “laughing gas” (Dinitrogen monoxide) is a by product of unbridled use of urea in ramping up both wheat and rice production. Dinitrogen monoxide is a major scavenger of stratospheric ozone leading to global warming, (Nair, 2019b), and, is 310 times more effective in its heat trapping capacity compared to carbon dioxide (Nair, 2019b). Average life span of this gas is 120 years (Nair, 2019b). It is a serious environmental hazard that steep ramp-up of nitrous oxide in the stratosphere coincided with the green revolution of the 1960s(Nair, 2019a). A consequence of the unbridled urea use is soil degradation and ground water pollution due to high residues of nitrates which makes water non potable (Nair, 2019a). Of the 328.43 million hectares of India’s geographical area more than 120.40mha have degraded soils, mostly in Punjab, the “cradle” of Indian green revolution (Nair, 2019a). The recent Indian Space Research Organisation’s report highlights this. When high food production is targeted through excessive use of N-fertilizers like urea, soil microbes convert N in the fertilizer urea into nitrous oxide at a faster rate than normal (Nair, 2019a). This has been a major factor leading to global warming with all its attendant environmental consequences (Nair, 2019b). The unseasonal rains (like what India is experiencing in the month of September) is also an offshoot of this phenomenon (Nair, 2019b).
Global warming is a reality man has to live with. This is a very important issue to recognise, because, of all the parameters that affect human existence, on planet earth, it is food and its security that is of paramount importance to life on earth and which is most threatened by global warming. Future food security will be dependent on a combination the stresses, both biotic and abiotic, imposed by climate change, variability of weather within the crop-growing season, development of cultivars more suited to different ambient and soil-substrate conditions, intelligent soil management, with specific reference to nutrient (fertiliser) management (Nair, 2019a), and the ability to develop effective adatptation strategies which allow these cultivars to express their genetic potential to the fullest, under changing climate conditions. These may appear as challenges which may be impossible to address, because of the uncertainty in our ability to predict future climate changes. However, these challenges also provide us the opportunities to enhance our understanding of soil-plant-atmosphere interaction (Nair, 2019a, b), and how one could utilise this knowledge to enable us achieve the ultimate goal of enhanced food security across all areas of the globe. It is in this context that the author proposes to look at the possibility of utilizing “Crop Wild Relatives”, which offers tremendous scope. Those plant species which are very closely related to field crops, including their progenitors, which have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, such as, resistance to an array of biotic and abiotic stresses, and to enrich the gene pool, leading ultimately to enhanced crop yield, thereby aiding humanity’s relentless search for production of more food to meet the ever-growing needs of a burgeoning population are called “Crop Wild Relatives” (CWRs, (Nair, 2019b). In fact, CWRs have tremendous potential to sustain and enhance global food security (Nair, 2019b), thereby contributing to enormously to humanity’s well being. Therefore, their search, characterisation, and conservation in crop breeding programmes assume great importance.
The global concern over the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on biodiversity and food security, when juxtaposed with the burgeoning global population, implies immediate measures be taken to conserve CWRs and derive from them potentially usable genes to enhance crop yield. CWRs are a key tool to address the limits of genetic variation in the domestic crops to adapt them to climate change. However, extension of their conservation and promotion of more systematic exploitation is hindered by a lack of understanding of their current and potential value, their diversity and practically how they might be conserved and exploited- an important task Indian agricultural research fraternity must immediately address.
Reference:
Nair, K.P.P. 2019a. Intelligent Soil Management for Sustainable Agriculture – The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept (Springer Nature, Switzerland)
Nair, K.P. P. 2019b. Combating Global warming – The Role of Crop Wild Relatives for Food Security (Springer Climate, Switzerland)
Addendum: Both the books were launched during the global summit on global warming organised by Mr Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, on September 23, 2019, which was attended by all Heads of State, including Prime Minister Modi and former US President Donald Trump, both of who were presented with a copy of both the books.
That apart, global warming is a reality man has to live with. This is a very important issue to recognise, because, of all the parameters that affect human existence, on planet earth, it is the food security that is of paramount importance to life on earth and, which is most threatened by global warming. Future food security will be dependent on a combination of the stresses, both biotic and abiotic, imposed by climate change, variability of weather withing the crop growing season, development of cultivars more suited to different ambient conditions, and the ability to develop effective adaptation strategies which allows these cultivars to express their genetic potential to the fullest under changing climate conditions. These may appear as challenges which may be impossible to address because of the uncertainty in our ability to predict future climate changes. However, these challenges also provide us the opportunities to enhance our understanding of soil -plant-atmosphere interactions and how one could utilize this knowledge to enable us achieve the ultimate goal of enhanced food security across all areas of the globe. On a more optimistic note, Professor Hasselmann says that the climate change could be controlled by man. This piece will into go into the physic of the work of the trio, but, focus on an important issue that concerns agriculture, more specifically, Indian agriculture.
Those plant species which are very closely related to field crops, including their progenitors, which have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, such as, resistance to an array of biotic and abiotic stresses, and to enrich the gene pool, leading ultimately to enhanced plant yield, thereby aiding humanity’s relentless search for production of more food to meet the ever growing needs of a burgeoning population, are called “Crop Wild Relatives” (CWRs). In fact, CWRs are known to have tremendous potential to sustain and enhance global food security, thereby contributing enormously to humanity’s well being. Therefore, their search, characterisation, and conservation in crop breeding programmes assume enormous importance.