Science Forum Workshop Theme 3 ICT-enabled Agricultural Science for Development Scenarios, Opportunities, Issues – A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture – by Simone Sala ICTs transforming agricultural science, research & technology generation Science Forum Workshop Theme 3

A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture Scenarios Vertical limit – Models are likely to substantially increase their precision in telling what changes will happen, when and where Horizontal limit – Most of data already embeds (hidden) time/space information: ICT will make it explicit in the next 5 years, fostering data integration Depth limit – Higher granularity of ICTs will promote communication networks to fill knowledge gaps A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture Opportunities Shift in data collection and information generation through cheaper and simpler tools: from a cathedral approach to a bazaar approach ICT can help dealing with uncertainty and complexity by integrating large amounts of data Sustainable adaptation measures to changes can be planned and implemented through platforms for analysis and dialogue among different stakeholders at different levels A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture Issues Interoperability among different applications is still far: integrated platforms need to be developed ICT per se will never be enough to overcome information glocal divide: A participatory R&D approach is crucial for successful ICT applications at community level Peer-to-Peer communication systems are needed to generate timely, reliable and clear information What about impact? Need for new indicators, reflecting multi-disciplinary and system approach A focus on ICT for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

More Information FAO – Climate Change: www.fao.org/climatechange FAO – Communication for Sustainable Development Initiative : csdi@fao.org For further info: simone.sala@fao.org