How nuclear and climate-smart agriculture solutions can help mitigate climate change

Global food security is under increasing strain due to climate change. Agrifood systems are facing huge challenges due to escalating drought and severe weather events, as well as human activities that are leading to land and soil degradation. Agriculture currently generates around a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and global demand for food is growing. Nuclear science and related technologies play an important role in enabling farmers to adopt climate-smart agriculture — an integrated approach to managing agrifood systems through the adoption of agricultural practices and technology that can be used to sustainably develop agricultural productivity and incomes, adapt and build resilience to climate change, and reduce GHG emissions. The IAEA, through the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, supports the advancement, transfer and application of nuclear science and techniques in global agrifood systems to promote animal nutrition and animal health; enhance crop productivity and on-farm ecosystem services through plant nutrition and nutrient cycling; minimize soil erosion and land degradation; improve soil health; increase biodiversity and crop production; maximize water use efficiency; and trace agricultural and industrial pollutants and assess the threat they pose to crop production and environmental sustainability. "To reduce hunger and malnutrition, the IAEA provides countries with research and data from climate-smart field tests and creates models to generate recommendations for farming systems adapted to various affected regions," says Mohammad Zaman, soil and water management and crop nutrition expert at the IAEA.