International Salinity Webinar on “Resilient agriculture in saline environments under changing climate”

Webinar on 3rd Nov., 2020
Jointly Organised by:
ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal
International center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai

Soil salinity is one of the major and widespread challenges in the recent era that hinders global food security and environmental sustainability in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world that severely affects the global agricultural production and biodiversity.

Furthermore, waterlogged and coastal areas are vulnerable to salinity development often due to sea water intrusion and inundation, which again relate to global climate change. Globally, more than 900 million hectares of land, accounting for nearly 20% of the total agricultural land and 33% of the irrigated agricultural lands is  affected by salinity. The salt stress in soil is becoming prominent due to the ever-increasing global population pressure(projected to be 9.3 billion by 2050), intensive agricultural practices (e.g., intensive cultivation,  over-application of groundwater and synthetic fertilizers) and climate change over decades. Technological knowledge generated till date by different institutes worldwide has helped in taming the problem in large tracts of land in different countries to restore their full potential. However, new challenges are set to be faced either due to changing climate or land use anomalies, leading to exponential increase in the area under salinity in the coming decades. Identifying gaps in our knowledge, therefore, is of utmost importance to understand the threats and convert them to opportunity to achieve sustainable development goals(SDGs). In the context of climate change scenarios, the salinity based institute is fully geared to face new challenges to mitigate soil salinity and transform lives of millions of farmers worldwide under collaborated efforts.

In CORONA Pandemic, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) and International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) proposes to bring together the international scientific community devoted to salinity research through its international Salinity Webinar on “Resilient Agriculture in saline Environments under Changing Climate” on November 3, 2020.The Webinar aims to rejuvenate the research efforts and to international collaborations to combat land and water salinization. We sincerely invite national and international fraternity to be part of this Webinar.

ORGANIZERS
Patron
Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra
Secretary DARE and DG ICAR
Patron
Dr. Ismahane Elouafi
DG, ICBA
Chairman
Dr. S. K. Chaudhari
DDG (NRM), ICAR
Organizing Secretary
Dr. P.C. Sharma
Director, ICAR-CSSRI
Co-Organizing Secretary
Mr. Abdumutalib Begmuratov
Head KMC, ICBA
Co-organizing Secretary
Dr. H.S. Jat
Principal Scientist, ICAR-CSSRI

ORGANIZERS

Time (hrs)IST Topics Speakers
10.30 Welcome Dr. P.C. Sharma, Director, ICAR-CSSRI, KArnal
10.30-10.40 Inaugural Address Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE and DR, ICAR, New Delhi
10.40-10.50 Inaugural Remarks Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Director General, ICBA
10.50-11.05 Global status of salt affected soils Dr. Ronald Vargas, Secretary of the Global Soil Partnership, Land and Water Officer FAO, Rome
11.05-11.20 Mapping and monitoring soil salinity across scales Dr. Elia Scudiero, Assistant Research Agronomist University of California and USDA, Riverside
11.20-11.35 Genetic characterization of the salt tolerance mechanisms in fruit and forage crops Dr. Devinder Sandhu, Research Geneticist USDA, Riverside, California
11.35-11.50 Impact of climate change, flood inundation and management strategies on water and salt balance of the polders and islands in the Ganges Delta Dr. Mohammed Mainuddin, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra
11.50-12.05 Crop Diversification : Key for the productivity in salt affected marginal environments Dr. RK Singh, Program Leader and Principal Scientist(Plant Breeding), International Center for Biosaline Agriculture(ICBA), Dubai
12.05-12.20 Harnessing productivity of salt affected soils Dr. PC Sharma, Director, ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal
12.20-12.30 Q&A Session Dr. PC. Sharma/ Dr. RK. Singh
12.30-12.40 Concluding Remarks Dr. SK Chaudhari, DDG(NRM), ICAR, New Delhi
12.40 Vote of Thanks Dr. HS Jat, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal