Prima strategic Research and Innovation Agenda Version February 22, 2017 Foreword
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Pillar 2: Sustainable farming systems under Mediterranean environmental constraints Scope
- Research challenges Priorities to be addressed
- Priority Topics
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Expected impacts The pillar is intended to promote actions on both sides of the supply-demand water balance to cope with water scarcity in the Mediterranean basin. Having in mind that water management is not limited to only one sector of activity, and on the contrary, it is a cross-cutting aspect that affects social, economic, cultural, health, environmental or even gender issues, the Pillar will seek for integrated solutions to facilitate the adoption of appropriate measures at different levels including:
More specifically, the water pillar expects to generate several socio-economic and environmental positive impacts, namely:
Improving Mediterranean water sector competitiveness. The market introduction of the proposed technologies will strengthen the economic competitiveness of the participating SMEs, water and wastewater operators and farmers. Sensor providers together with climate open data will let information and communication technologies companies have the opportunity to incorporate new technologies in their products’ portfolio and therefore increase their competitiveness in the water management sector. The possibility of using remote sensing data and technologies should increase the opportunities to expand the companies’ activities beyond the Mediterranean area. This will have indeed positive impacts in terms of job creation particularly in the field of applied climatology, crop modelling and cyber-technology. Pillar 2: Sustainable farming systems under Mediterranean environmental constraints Scope In this text, agriculture refers to both plant and livestock system. Considering the context of climate change, the scarcity of the resources, the demographic growth, the contamination, desertification, degradation of arable lands and the loss of biodiversity, there is an urgent need to invest in improving the efficiency and the sustainability of agricultural farming systems, aquaculture and fisheries. Farms are expected to yield food and other products with high added values (economically, nutritionally) to cope with the progressively more pressing environmental constraints, to protect natural resources, and to face and mitigate climate change. In this perspective, the present pillar will focus on 4 major challenges: 1) adaptation of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries to Mediterranean climatic constraints and climate change, 2) sustainable management of natural resources used by agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, 3) prevention and sustainable fight to the emerging and outbursts of plant and animal diseases, securing healthy productions and 4) development of marine, aquatic and land farming systems able to generate income, to create employment and to contribute to a balanced territorial development. Research challenges & Priorities to be addressed Adaptation to climate change and associated expanding drought, warming, and extreme events It is well-established that climate change is expanding those areas where agriculture is constrained by climatic limitations, and that solutions need to be found to adapt agricultural practices to, for example, rising temperatures and drought, or increasing occurrence of extreme events in temperate environments. This is clearly a challenge that requires pooling resources, knowledge and capacities into common programmes. Agriculture is indeed already limited by climate change all around the Mediterranean and this situation is predicted to worsen in the near future. Adapting to climate change is therefore a common necessity for the Mediterranean agriculture, as Mediterranean countries share similar climatic features that will change in the future. Specifically, the Northern part of the region is expected to experience similar conditions to those existing today in the Southern shore. For example, aridity today plagues agriculture and animal production management more in the Southern shore than in the Northern shore of the Mediterranean sea. However, the effect of decreased water supply, extended summer drought and mild winter, on resource management and agriculture productions will also extensively characterize agriculture of countries so far experiencing more temperate and humid climate, including those facing the North of the Mediterranean. Some crops, or agricultural practices, currently widespread in countries of the Southern Mediterranean rim, could become relevant also for the Northern shore in the future. Mediterranean crops like durum wheat, olive, grapevine, food and feed legumes (chickpea, lentil, fava bean), may increase their interest as healthy, productive and environmentally sustainable food sources for an expanding number of countries (in the EU and worldwide) in the next years. The richness of Mediterranean biodiversity is an asset that can be valorised for producing products with a strong identity, thus allowing the preservation of biodiversity and of its related production ecosystems. Mediterranean biodiversity can also be used to restore or develop new varieties and hybrids, crops and breeds that are adapted to the environment and may be used for genetic improvement. It is still possible to take advantage of the spontaneous and domesticated biological diversity of Mediterranean crops and livestock for improving and making more our production systems more resilient to stress and adapted to climate change. Species that are currently used in the southern Mediterranean countries could be relevant for other locations, namely in the Northern shore, to adapt agriculture to the changing climatic conditions. In the Mediterranean area, the land has been cultivated for millennia since the very early stages of agriculture domestication and landscapes are thus the products of myriads of continuous interactions between human and their natural biotic and abiotic environment. The use of rustic local breeds or wild species as reservoir of phenotypic and genotypic diversity can have strong and positive inputs in the production of plants and animals with lower energetic requirement and/or able to better cope with stress while producing steadily, efficiently, and sustainably. The genetic bases for grains, legumes, seeds, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants and herbs are rather wide, but climate change can largely erode this biodiversity and traits associated to resistance and adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses must be retrieved, and valorised, as they may yield new and valuable commercial production and a sustainable source of food for human nutrition. Fish and seafood products are playing a large role in the Mediterranean diet, but are also directly threatened by global change. Marine and aquatic ecosystems are affected by climate change and contamination that are directly impacting the distribution and the availability of fish. Thus, there is a strong interest to adapt marine fisheries and aquaculture systems to increase the food security of the region through the development of new fishing/production systems able to cope with environmental constrains and that will ensure the durability of fish stocks. Selective breeding and the exploitation of new marine and aquatic species/resources can contribute to satisfy the existing demand from the population. Rusticity and flexibility of the different components and the whole are major factors of resilience of the systems and are required to improve their competitiveness and sustainability. From this perspective, research is needed to i) better understand how Mediterranean plants and animals are adapted to environmental constraints from a genetic/phenotypic/physiological point of view and what are the mechanisms underlying this tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, warm winter/high temperature, and other stress. A special focus on the interactions between genotype and environment (e.g. plant-microorganism interactions, breeds and type of fodder/vegetation available, indoor or outdoor rearing, how genome and epigenome forces interact) is expected, ii) create and select new varieties or breeds for their traits (e.g. robustness, growth rate, quality of the final products) suited for the Mediterranean conditions in a changing environmental context, and taking advantage of natural adaptation to extreme environments of local spontaneous and domesticated biodiversity and iii) develop molecular techniques and markers to assist selective breeding of the suited traits and avoid the appearance of metabolic disorders during the growth. From this perspective, research is needed to:
Developing sustainable and productive agro-ecosystems A substantial proportion of agriculture in the Mediterranean area has been modernized and intensified via improved farming practices and systems. Improvements have also been achieved in the livestock and aquaculture area. However, yield increases are still insufficient to face the ever-growing food demand. Furthermore, unsustainable intensification of farming practices has often led to pollution (including greenhouse gases emissions), overexploitation of natural areas and resources, loss of fertility of agricultural land, soil erosion and runoff, and in some cases to enhanced desertification. Improper irrigation management have resulted into soil salinization and underground water contamination and pollution in several places. Pollution and contaminations of the environment are a key problem in the Mediterranean, of course often linked to overpopulation and its pressures. Mitigation, remediation, restoration and novel approaches for sustainable exploitation of natural resources should be implemented. Chemicals and fertilizers use in agriculture should be reduced and their fate and impact on the environment should be better controlled. The reduction of greenhouse gas emission and the production of other gases potentially impacting human health deriving from agriculture and livestock farming should be also considered. Seafood provisioning (from fisheries and aquaculture) in the Mediterranean can also be critically endangered by the same factors affecting terrestrial productions, e.g. increased presence of bioactive molecules, xenobiotics, pollutants, toxins, new parasites and diseases. Furthermore, how climate change will affect sustainable agriculture and soil degradation processes remains largely unexplored. Soil degradation (e.g. loss of organic matter, compaction and sealing, desertification, salinization, contamination) and erosion (e.g. aerial, fluvial), and the subsequent loss of fertility of agricultural lands, are critical issues and major obstacles to the sustainability of all forms of agriculture. In the Mediterranean region, arable land degradation continues. Intensified agricultural practices and pasture use, coupled with population growth and pressure, threaten these lands, lower productivity and lead to desertification. Taking into consideration both the environmental and economic effects, the efficient use and cycling of nutrients, namely carbon, water nitrogen and other elements important for agriculture productivity still remains a priority in the region. Soil, water and vegetation and their interactions must be viewed as a whole together with the agro-techniques used in the crop production processes. The way soil and plants are managed is crucial in regulating crop water requirements and the amount of water stored into the soil profile, but agricultural practices are often poorly planned in view of maintaining soil properties. Research is needed to understand causes and mechanisms of soil erosion at different spatial and temporal scales, as well as soil microbiology and mineral nutrient cycles and their impacts on plant growth and production. Degraded soils need remediation solutions to be found, and this is another important area where sustainable and natural solutions are urgently needed. For instance, ecosystem functions, services and benefits from pastoralism, should be taken into account. Livestock and pasture management studies are also expected to enhance the positive effect of livestock in mixed farming and to reduce the erosion or compaction of the soil systems under Mediterranean conditions. The nexus between the main traits of agriculture productivity (plant-water-soil) must be also preserved when expanding our view to the spatial organisation of cultivated and natural lands, and to the role of agriculture in the conservation of natural resources and the environment. At this level, the spatial organisation of agriculture, forest and pastoral areas, has a strong influence on habitats, soil quality, water resources and biodiversity. Where this is not well managed, designing proper land management practices may allow maximising on-site resources and soil capacity to supply nutrients to crops. Better integration of environmental natural regulation of biotic and abiotic stresses into farming systems, as promoted by the agroecology concept, could largely be developed in the Mediterranean, as farming is still a primary activity in the region. However, the agroecology approach requires research and innovation to take into account specific Mediterranean ecosystem assets and vulnerabilities, and to develop solutions that are based on general principles but are adapted to local needs (e.g. to a wide range of micro-climate, soils, and biodiversity, available across the Mediterranean region, and to different dietary requirements of population, dependent, in turn, on multiple factors, including social and religious ones). Today, the development of vast monocultures composed of very few species targeted to worldwide trade may not be suitable for the fragile and very diverse Mediterranean region, where it can cause well-recognized problems, such as loss of soil fertility, pollution of soil and water, development of highly virulent or pesticide-resistant pests/pathogens, fragmentation of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. On the other hand, the development of diversified and integrated systems that are equally efficient in water, plant nutrients and energy use and that ensure market competitiveness may sustain the farming sector while ensuring protection of natural and biological resources, particularly those that are scarce in the region. Located at the intersection of tropical, arid and temperate influences, the Mediterranean area is a unique bio-geographical entity, considered one of the 34 hotspots of global biodiversity. The rich and varied natural environments of the Mediterranean region show high rates of endemism. Globally, the Mediterranean area supports 10% of known plant species and 7% of marine species (UNEP/MAP-Plan Blue, 2008). In addition, within the Mediterranean soil there is the potential to keep exploring rich germplasm of soil microbes of potential utility as fertility enhancer and crop protection tool. However, a very small part of this biodiversity is valorised in agriculture, production systems are often overspecialised and do not take into account the available species, breeds, varieties, germplasms as well as soil biota diversity. Biodiversity is clearly an asset for the region that should be preserved as a common heritage, and sustainably exploited through specific genetic and phenotypic selection and successive production of agricultural and food and non-food products, including those that help tackle new climate challenges, e.g. increasing water scarcity in the region and worldwide. Livestock has been often separated from agriculture, and crop research, with consequent negative impacts on the water and nutrient cycles and ecosystem services. Efforts are now required to pursue a greater integration of crop-livestock systems for a more appropriate use of lands by diversified ecosystems, and cross-valorisation of plant and animal products (e.g. manure, forage crops). This could also contribute to circular economy process favouring a better integration of agriculture and livestock farming by-products within the entire farming process. The role of livestock systems in the circular economy must be promoted, including the beneficial use of manures in crops fertilization. In this context, it is important to delve into the knowledge of agrosilvopastoral Mediterranean systems, where it´s possible to link production and nature conservation. It should be valorised as an efficient way to diversify agricultural and livestock production with a minimum input of energy and materials. However, there are many threats to face as the dying-off many trees, soil erosion, regeneration of the tree layer, increase of grassland production. Developing sustainable aquaculture should be based on adopting an ecosystem approach that seeks to optimise the supply of commercial services (production of foods and high value biochemical products) with environmental/ecosystem services that may also have a strong economic impact. This may ensure long-term sustainability of aquaculture production and its services by preserving water quality and biodiversity. In order to pursue this objective, there is a need for a better knowledge of farmed organisms and how they adapt to the different challenging farming conditions, linking the variety of available omic approaches with a systems biology perspective (e.g. genetic architecture of traits of interest, i.e. high-throughput phenotyping, physiology of sexual development and biological bases of domestication) and their production systems (integration in the environment, design of mixed-farming systems/integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems embracing crops, livestock and aquaculture, to minimise environmental impacts or even improve their ecological footprint). Fisheries should also improve their process and technology in order to reduce the by-catch and discards that is publically not acceptable and have a negative impact on the management of the fish stocks. The mapping of the resources would help to identify the suitable and functional habitats for fish populations and would allow developing management plans taking into account the impact of the fisheries on these habitats. In the view of maintaining the productivity of the area, there is a real need to develop fishing gear/systems for targeted species, reduce the energy consumption of the vessels and the wastes, develop an integrated model of fish and vessels movements with spatial management schemes (MPA, fishing regulations). The integration of the growing maritime traffic, the spread of alien species and the pollution that are major factors impacting negatively the fish stock, to a management plan are urgently needed. At the same time the Mediterranean area is rich in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIHS, according the FAO definition) that should be preserved to future generations and in local ago-knowledge that deserves to be analysed scientifically. From the traditional agriculture profitable insights could be generated in sustainable use of lands, or domestication of wild species or in human diet. Taking advantage of the local agriculture and traditional uses, the implementation of agro-innovations will proceed faster. Preventing the emergence of animal and plant diseases The Mediterranean Region is a hotspot for biodiversity but it is also a rich and well-known centre of origin and dispersion for virulent plant and animal pests and diseases. These often propagate under the influence of climate change and of the intensification of commercial exchanges (e.g. caused by increased food exchange and tourism) between different regions. The recent outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa in olive groves in Southern Italy and the Balearic islands is a clear example of such kind of threat, but many other example are available where the invading species rapidly colonize the Mediterranean region. Plant and animal diseases and pests cause significant losses of yields of fruits, cereal crops, vegetables and animal productions, and are important economic and social problems. While the use of pesticides is now severely restricted by European laws and regulations, ensuring regional food security requires a more effective and prompt fight against pests and diseases. This includes novel pest management practices, e.g. the identification of plant resistance genes, the use of natural defences as deterrent o pests or for implementing multi-trophic interactions with predators or parasitoids able to protect crops, the use of microbial communities that help plant to overcome the biotic and abiotic stresses, or the implementation of agro-technologies and cropping systems management techniques that help limit disease spreading, development of resistances by pathogens, or loss of effectiveness of treatments. Biological diversity plays an important role in controlling animal and plant pests, both temporally (e.g. crop succession) and spatially, at various organisation levels (from a single plot/farm to the whole landscape). In the livestock sector, concentrations of human and animal populations, sometimes still uncontrolled use of antibiotics and other anti-parasitic products, difficulties in implementing effective health inspections, the low number of licensed veterinary medicines targeting some animal-pathogen groups the lack of adequate control and prevention tools (vaccines and diagnostic tools) and negative effects of climate change (warming) are all factors that favour invasion and chronic persistence of pandemic animal diseases, the resurgence of epidemics and the emergence of new pathogens. Not only does this pose a threat to human health, it also constitutes a major constraint on efficient agricultural, husbandry and economic practices in agricultural and livestock systems in the region. The issue of plant and animal health must be addressed in relation to the factors driving the emergence of new pathogens and vectors and adopting an Integrated Pest Management approach. Importantly, when a new disease breaks out, it is already generally too late to find and implement effective solutions. Scientific knowledge has to be obtained in order to understand and foresee outbreaks and to develop preventive solutions or Integrated Pest Management activities. The emergence of many infestations or diseases also drives the need for a better understanding of the ecology of pests and pathogens, the interactions with host plants and the communication with other organisms that may find advantage from the infestations or disease spreading. Present scientific knowledge allows to effectively tackle these challenges with a One Health approach, but requires trans-disciplinary research, involving plant/animal health specialists (biology, physiology and ecology, entomology, plant pathology, and epidemiology), plant breeders, agronomists & zootechnicians, technologists (health product development and application, information scientists) and socio-economists (acceptability of systems, accompanying measures for innovation adoption). This issue has also strong interconnections with the quality and safety of food products and the consequences for human health (the case of mycotoxins and their strong carcinogenic effects is only one of the remarkable examples). Collaboration with other disciplines working in food sciences and nutrition is therefore needed. Aquaculture and livestock are concerned by this sanitary problem as the use of antibiotics/chemicals to treat the diseases has a strong negative impact on the environment (development of resistance, presence of bioactive molecules in the water) and the level of acceptability of the treated products by the consumers. Alternatives to the use of antibiotics need to be boosted. The development of simple prevention and diagnosis tools, the selection of suitable breeds for their natural resistance against pathogens, the management of the animals and their living space, the control of the quality of the food/water and the recycling of contaminated/treated wastewater should be examined to propose a sustainable model of livestock and aquaculture. Animal welfare should also be considered as stress and suboptimal rearing conditions affect the immune system and the quality of the products. This question is especially important to producers and other operators within the supply chain, when consumers include animal welfare standards amongst a package of other criteria in making purchasing decisions. Developing farming systems able to generate income, to create employment and to contribute to a balanced territorial development Agriculture (including coastal and continental aquaculture) provides food and non-food products and commodities generating remarkable incomes, but also creates employment, sustains rural livelihoods, delivers ecosystem services, and help reaching stable and sustainable economies. Extensive agriculture is a model largely unrealistic in the Mediterranean region. On the other hand, the potential benefit of agriculture on employment and poverty alleviation should encourage in the Mediterranean the development of labour-intensive agricultural activities and the design of profitable farming systems for small-scale agriculture and successive integration into cooperative forms of aggregation, allowing reaching sustainable and efficient market capacity. The growth of rural employment is critical to fight rural poverty. Potential synergies among activities of the various economic sectors in rural areas should be enhanced, as well as rural/urban synergies. A balanced territorial development requires both to develop new products, technologies and production systems for different farm types (family or commercial) taking into account simultaneously the farm level and the agro-industry perspective, and to assess their environmental, social and economic impacts. Despite efforts in education, a gender gap in economic activity still exists in non-EU countries. Reports of the FAO State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011 and the World Bank’s World Development Report 2012 highlight the importance of gender equality in agriculture. In this respect, research related to women domain as the post-harvest handling and processing through simple and women-friendly technologies, that can be utilized on-farm conditions for value adding will help to save labour, generate income, improve nutrition and prevent losses. Women play a major role in the Mediterranean agriculture especially in family farming therefore gender sensitive/specific techniques/technologies should receive special attention in research and innovation. The Mediterranean area is characterised by a rich biodiversity. The Mediterranean diet is based on the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, grain (mostly whole), olive oil, nuts, beans, legumes, seeds, herbs and spices, all easily found across the region. These products have a significant importance in supplying carbohydrates, vegetal proteins, phytochemicals, many vitamins and minerals. In addition to their contribution to nutrition and health, many of the plants contributing to the Mediterranean diet have multiple uses in medicine, industry or agriculture, agroforestry and soil conservation, and they bring value to marginal lands in semi-arid environments and contribute to rural development. Some locally consumed wild or cultivated species with high added value (e.g. aromatic and medicinal plants used by food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries) can be evaluated in respect to their health properties and commercialised to widen the Mediterranean crop range. The demand for fresh or dried culinary herbs is increasing in the European market. Accompanying this, animal products have an important nutritional and cultural value in the Mediterranean diet. While the Mediterranean diet maintains undisputed nutritional and health value, current lifestyle and global food trade are eroding popularity and awareness of the health advantages of the Mediterranean diet, especially among young people, and across the entire Mediterranean basin. This calls for a renewed effort in characterizing and improving effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet, perhaps also mining biological resources that have been neglected over the year (e.g. because characterized by low productivity) but are instead rich of nutraceutical compounds and have other properties that can be valorised by the Med diet. One further characteristic of the Mediterranean agriculture is the coexistence of abandoned areas or areas where agriculture is declining together with areas of overexploitation of natural resources, erosion and pollution. This unsustainable land use has become worse during the last decades, probably driven by over-urbanization of population and climate characteristics. A more balanced development should be pursued. Currently, new land use management, including aspects of environmental protection and social and recreational use produce new spatial patterns and new relationships between urbanised areas, agricultural areas, intensive and extensive agricultural land, pastoral areas and uncultivated zones. This implies that integration between agriculture, aquaculture, forests, wetlands and urban areas in coastal zones should be urgently attained This objective could be met in a coordinated way by i) multidisciplinary approaches, including biotechnology, agronomy, food sciences, environmental, economic and social sciences for developing an integrated assessment and design of smart and sustainable agricultural systems and required public policies, ii) tools (best practices, decision support systems, models, discussion and co-development platforms etc.) that can assist farmers to improve their day-to-day decision-making management in a risky and uncertain environment, iii) participatory approaches for integrating farmers’ knowledge in the innovation process and iv) territorial approaches that analyse the diversity and spatial organization of farming systems and their environmental and social conditions in the Mediterranean in order to be able to develop site-specific solutions needed by the heterogeneity prevailing within and between the Mediterranean countries. In the light of the consideration above exposed, the present pillar identifies the following priority topics to be addressed:
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