Adapting to climate change in The Netherlands: an inventory of climate adaptation options and ranking of alternatives

In many countries around the world impacts of climate change are assessed and adaptation options identified. We describe an approach for a qualitative and quantitative assessment of adaptation options to respond to climate change in the Netherlands. The study introduces an inventory and ranking of adaptation options based on stakeholder analysis and expert judgement, and presents some estimates of incremental costs and benefits. The qualitative assessment focuses on ranking and prioritisation of adaptation options. Options are selected and identified and discussed by stakeholders on the basis of a sectoral approach, and assessed with respect to their importance, urgency and other characteristics by experts. The preliminary quantitative assessment identifies incremental costs and benefits of adaptation options. Priority ranking based on a weighted sum of criteria reveals that in the Netherlands integrated nature and water management and risk based policies rank high, followed by policies aiming at 'climate proof' housing and infrastructure

Evidence for increasing global wheat yield potential

Wheat is the most widely grown food crop, with 761 Mt produced globally in 2020. To meet the expected grain demand by mid-century, wheat breeding strategies must continue to improve upon yield-advancing physiological traits, regardless of climate change impacts. Here, the best performing doubled haploid (DH) crosses with an increased canopy photosynthesis from wheat field experiments in the literature were extrapolated to the global scale with a multi-model ensemble of process-based wheat crop models to estimate global wheat production. The DH field experiments were also used to determine a quantitative relationship between wheat production and solar radiation to estimate genetic yield potential. The multi-model ensemble projected a global annual wheat production of 1050 +/- 145 Mt due to the improved canopy photosynthesis, a 37% increase, without expanding cropping area. Achieving this genetic yield potential would meet the lower estimate of the projected grain demand in 2050, albeit with considerable challenges

Lessons learned

The research programme International Cooperation of the Agricultural Research Department (DLO-IC) of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) was founded in 1998 with the aim to support agricultural and environmental research for development and strengthen North-South partnerships. The programme that embraced contributions from all five science groups of Wageningen University and Research centre (Wageningen UR) consisted of two phases (1998-2001 and 2002-2005). Within those eight years, about 70 multi-annual collaborative North-South projects were carried out under the umbrella of DLO-IC, of which about half were related to Rural Development and Sustainable Agriculture (RDSA). The remaining half was classified in the themes global food chains, agrobiodiversity, nature management, integrated water management and enabling policies (North-South Centre 2004). The objective of this chapter is to summarize the results from the scientific, capacity-building and policy-oriented activities, draw major lessons and outline the way ahead on the basis of the experiences and new developments as outlined in previous chapters, and emerging opportunities. We will first reflect on ideas that shaped research approaches in agricultural and environmental sciences for development, then re-visit the objectives of the DLO-IC research programme between 1998 and 2005 (DLO 404) and, finally, provide a frame for assessing the programme¿s accomplishments and future challenges in the field of sustainable agriculture and rural developmen

Musikhoeren und Verkehrssicherheit 1: Einfluesse von Musik auf die Reaktionszeit und Unfallhaeufigkeit beim Autofahren

TIB: AC 8499 (1) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Reversal of Rice Yield Decline in a Long-Term Continuous Cropping Experiment

In a long-term continuous cropping experiment at Los Baños, Philippines, three rice (Oryza sativa L.) crops were grown each year with the goals of maximum annual grain production and high N use efficiency. Our objective was to identify the factors responsible for the restoration of yields occurring after 1991. From 1968 to 1991, grain yields declined at an annual rate of 1.4 to 2.0%. From 1991 to 1995, dry season (DS) yields in the highest N treatment increased to within 80 to 100% of the simulated yield potential; yields in the unfertilized control did not increase. Increased solar radiation, increased N rate, and improved timing of N applications accounted for the restoration of yields in the DS. Wet season yields increased in fertilized and unfertilized plots due to greater solar radiation, improved timing of N applications, and increased soil N supply due to dry fallow periods in three years. Residual benefits of soil aeration were short-term. Reducing preplant N fertilizer and increasing y the number of split applications had a greater effect on increasing yield than the increase in the amount of N applied. Our results provide evidence that N deficiency caused the yield decline before 1991. However, the actual processes that caused a decline in soil N supply or plant uptake remain to be determined. It is possible to sustain high yields and high N use efficiency if fertilizer regimes are updated regularly to maintain the congruence between crop N demand and the N supply from soil and fertilizer

Ecoregional research for development

This chapter focuses on the subject of ecoregional research for development. The character of international agricultural research has changed profoundly in the last decades of the twentieth century. This can be illustrated by developments within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The need for a support of comprehensive systems' analysis of the CGIAR agenda required new research; therefore, the development agencies of the Dutch and Swiss governments initiated the Ecoregional Methodology Fund in 1995 as part of its development-oriented activities. This Fund was expected to support the development of new methodological tools for research that is ecoregional in scope with the intention of promoting new approaches to natural resource management and rural development in ecoregions. This chapter summarizes and discusses the accomplishments and the future challenges of Ecoregional Methodology Fund. In doing so, the chapter presents a sketch of the changing social and political environment in which the work has been done, ranging from the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the strategy of the CGIAR Science Council and the Gleneagle summit. It also elaborates the changing role of research, vis-a-vis the policy cycle. Implications for research, including new forms of interaction, design of operational tools, and new forms of education and communication are also discussed in the chapter