Advances in Sustainable Agricultural Land Management: Opportunities for Education, Research and Development
Dr Amir Kassam, University of Reading, United Kingdom
15 July 2016, 16:00
Concerns regarding sustainable production intensification and sustainable land management are attracting a good deal of attention in the international development and policy agenda because of the degrading and sub-optimal performance of many of the conventional land use management practices. Such practices collectively form the current dominant agricultural land use paradigm of excessive mechanical and chemical intrusion that has become unfit for purpose worldwide for meeting future societal needs for biological products, ecosystem services and economic development.
The presentation will: (a) illustrate the root causes of ecological and economic unsustainability in the conventional agricultural land use paradigm; (b) elaborate an alternate ecological paradigm that is replacing the conventional land use paradigm globally because of its greater productivity, efficiency, resilience and universal applicability; and (c) outline some of the opportunities for education, research and development offered by the alternate paradigm for sustainable land use management.
Biography
Dr Amir Kassam is the Chairman of the International Conservation Agriculture Advisory Panel for Africa (ICAAP-Africa) of the African Conservation Tillage (ACT) Network. He is Visiting Professor in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, UK, where his teaching and research is focused on rethinking agricultural development. Kassam is the Moderator of the Global Platform for No-Till Conservation Agriculture Community of Practice (CA-CoP) hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Honours List in 2005 for services to tropical agriculture and to rural development. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK), and member of several international advisory committees and boards. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Irrigation Science, and has published widely.
Born in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Kassam received his BSc (Hons) in Agriculture and PhD in Agro-ecology from the University of Reading, and MSc in Irrigation from the University of California-Davis. Kassam’s research, education and development work is focused on globalising the new paradigm of sustainable natural resources management, with a particular focus on no-till Conservation Agriculture systems for sustainable agriculture intensification and land management. During his career, Kassam has worked with a number of national and international agricultural development and research institutions, including several CGIAR centers, UN agencies and NGOs. His former positions include: Deputy Director General of WARDA (the Africa Rice Centre); Interim Executive Secretary of the CGIAR Science Council; Chairman of: the Aga Khan Foundation (UK); Chairman of Focus Humanitarian Assistance Europe Foundation; and Chairman of Tropical Agriculture Association, UK.
Language: The presentation will be conducted in English. Russian translation will be provided upon prior request.
Location: University of Central Asia, 138 Toktogul Street, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, 2nd Floor Conference Room.
Registration: Please RSVP to elnura.omurbekova@ucentralasia.org with your name and affiliation. Translation will be provided upon prior request.
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