ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY

IN CONJUNCTION WITH NEW ZEALAND WEEK 2012

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1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report presents points of discussion that transpired during a Roundtable Discussion on the theme “Climate Change and Food Security” in conjunction with New Zealand Week 2012 on 14 February 2012 held at the Dewan Jumaah, UTM International Campus, Kuala Lumpur.

The panelists consist of:

Chairperson    :           Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Mustaffa Babjee FASc

Panelists          :

• Professor Sir Peter Gluckman
• Tan Sri Dr. Salleh Mohd Noor FASc
• Dr. Stephen Goldson
• Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine Ong Soon Hock FASc
• Tan Sri Dato Seri Halim Saad
• Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor bin Abdul Rahman

The Roundtable Discussion brings together different perspectives from the academics, scientists, corporate figures and industry specialists on the issue of climate change and food security. The perspectives illustrate the complexity and challenges present in addressing the issue, especially by policy makers, the scientific community and those who are directly involved in the agriculture and energy sectors. Most importantly, the discussion revolves around the need to fulfill food and energy demand of the growing world population versus offsetting the use of resources and waste production expended in meeting the demand.

Panelists of the round table discussion sought

• Close collaboration within the international scientific community to maximize capacity in climate-related research
• Better communication and understanding between the scientific community and the general population on basic concepts relating to climate change and food security
• Identification of commodities and technologies that has the potential in replacing current dependency on palm oil and current energy sources such as oil, gas and coal

2.0 PANEL SESSION

The chairperson, Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Mustaffa Babjee welcomed the audience to the Roundtable Discussion and thanked the host for organising the event with a distinguished panel of speakers. He proceeded by providing a background context to the discussion, highlighting climate change as a pertinent and complex issue to be addressed. Not only does climate change involves a multitude of stakeholders at all levels, it is also influenced by external factors such as the growing world population, monetary crisis in the US and Europe and the shifting political environment in the Middle East. While advancement in science and technology has helped in understanding and mitigating the effects of climate change, there is yet comprehensive and equal distribution of its application in addressing the issue to a wider population. Malaysia has made a stand to reduce its carbon emission by 40% in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in 2009; in support of this commitment, national policies related to climate change have been introduced, along with the recommendation from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in reducing the greenhouse emission in the country. There is a broad spectrum of issues on climate change to be addressed, as observed by Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Mustaffa; however, for the scope of discussion, the panelists should focus on the three objectives outlined in the Malaysian Policy on Climate Change[1] and to explore the potential of regional collaboration and research and development (R&D) in finding sustainable solutions to climate change.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman shared the “perfect storm”[2] of nations and the critical intersection derived from science, value systems of different levels and perception of risks of stakeholders involved in finding solutions for climate change knowledge. While the level of action calls for investigation, it is comforting to know that there is an increase in the number of countries making commitment to sustainability. With regard to the global food security, it is important to strike a balance between producing food sufficient to the world population and offsetting the production of greenhouse gases from agriculture. He shared the experience of New Zealand in setting up Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases[3] in 2009. This consortium of nations is a cumulative effort to combine the capacity of the scientific community in identifying gaps and opportunities in agro-based research. The New Zealand government also went one step ahead in allocating NZD 25 million to accelerate global research to extenuate greenhouse gas emission from pastoral livestock. It is hoped that the three working groups[4] under the consortium will rise to the challenge of adapting climate change in the agriculture industry.

Tan Sri Dr. Salleh Mohd Noor expressed his views on climate change and food security from a forester’s point of view. It is important for the community to be aware of and recognize the link between forests as a quality water reservoir; the agriculture sector does not depend solely on the input of fertilizer and technology but also to the forest in terms of source of water and conservation of the ecosystem. A fundamental issue considered by a forester is the flowering of trees and he observed that the lack of rainfall for the past five weeks might adversely affect the flowering of trees. He also questioned the effect on long term food supply should biodiversity be altered. Another point raised by Tan Sri Dr. Salleh is the country’s participation in the international network of research such as the Centre for International de Développement et de Recherch (CIDR)[5] in France to optimize its capacity in linking agriculture to climate change. He applauded suggestions from Professor Sir Peter Gluckman for Malaysia to join the global network of scientific community in contributing at an international level and hoped the Vice Chancellor will take note of the opportunity and pursue the collaboration in the near future. He ended his sharing of insights by throwing a question to be pondered by all present: What would be the next economic crop of the century?

Dr. Stephen Goldson credited his three-year stay in Sarawak for his experience and leadership in bio-security. Due to the global trade and expanding shipping industry, the number of pest-related diseases has increased; the cross-border transfer of pest is made possible due to the large shipments of cargo containers of up to 80,000 per ship. There are yet measures to address this issue at current point of time and here lies opportunities for scientists for the application of technology in minimizing pest-related diseases. Synergistic collaboration should be made in terms of transferring knowledge from different departments into increasing global bio-security, such as the use of motion detectors and X-rays in filtering pests off container shipments. There should also be initiatives in profiling pathways of pests so as to identify and direct remedial measures at the right direction. Dr. Stephen also proposed forensic analysis, isotopes and optimization of cell phone technologies, besides considering socially accepted ways in pest control.

Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine Ong Soon Hock highlighted palm oil as a major source of carotene and the country is able to mass produce the crop to the world due to the high yield of carotenes per hectare of land[6] should the productivity of the plantations be increased. Based on a lifecycle analysis of palm oil, it was found that the methane emitted from decomposition of food ingredients near waste water ponds has negative impact on the productivity of palm trees in the palm oil plantations. It is unclear as to why the food ingredients are channeled to the ponds; what needs to be addressed is to eliminate the emission of methane that would adversely affect gross yield of the palm trees. There should also be optimization of palm kernel used during palm oil extraction, such as using palm puree as an alternative source of palm oil in cooking. Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine ended his discussion by putting a challenge to organizations in innovating the current system in palm oil manufacturing in an effort to reduce the high emission of greenhouse gases from agriculture systems.

Tan Sri Dato Seri Halim Saad believed that CSR on food security should be a priority for organizations as the increasing global population[7] would ultimately lead to an increasing demand for food and natural resources for food production. As he travelled frequently to Africa and South Asia, he noted that there is a need to invest in improving food harvest infrastructures such as food storage and processing to increase total food yield per hectare. He cited Africa as a case study as approximately 25% harvest is lost due to inadequate infrastructure. A different issue to be addressed is food wastage as it records a total of 108kgs per capita which is approximately twice the amount of food intake per person. Food price is yet another issue; the increasing expenditure on food especially in Africa[8] implies that any global price hike on food will affect Africa the most. The gloomy illustration is compensated by the opportunities for investment in green chemicals, green technologies, such as hybrid cars, and recyclable materials, especially in the consumer and electric products sector. He summarised his points by emphasizing the role of individuals as “everyone has to bear the burden” in climate change.

Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor bin Abdul Rahman reminded the audience on the El-Nino phenomenon in 1998 and its consequences of food shortage and productivity of live stock and crops. The agriculture sector is adversely affected by the rising temperature; there is an average increase of 0.6°C in temperature globally and an average of 0.1 – 0.3°C in the South East Asia region. MARDI has since undertaken research to address the effects of rising temperature by developing crops with climate-adaptable characteristics such as drought resistant, less water use, and having short maturity rate. To this end, MARDI has initiated international research collaboration with countries and international organizations to share expertise and resources in the modification of characteristics in crops. MARDI is also working on models that enable farmers to predict emergence of yields in seasons to come. In Datuk Dr. Abdul Shukor’s opinion, an important aspect with potential to be worked on is promoting good agricultural practices, such as fertilizer use among farmers.

3.0 Q&A SESSION

Pros and cons of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the worrying trend in GMO discussions.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman: There is a difficult trade off for policy makers with regard to GMOs but GMO is the way to go to increase productivity of food. The general population has difficulties understanding GMO due to the conflict with their individual belief systems on GMOs. It is important that science literacy, especially education on basic scientific terms such as GMOs and food security be made available to the whole population so the public understand and accept the concept readily. In actual fact, the science of GMO should be applied in such a way that it lends to other scientific advances of crops without being intrusive into believe systems of the general population.

Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor bin Abdul Rahman: There is a GM advisory council that reviews the technology in ethics, religion and other related aspects. GM should be made a frontal technology as it is very beneficial in life stock cultivation, such as the application of DNA markers in identifying the desired traits that accelerate conventional breeding / selection among live stocks.

Dr. Stephen Goldson: It is very important for governments to understand everyone’s concern on GMOs and promotes the potential benefits of GMOs in adapting the agriculture sector to climate change. Alternative solutions should also be considered, examples: planting crops in salt water and getting rid of pest-borne diseases such as malaria.

Suggestions:

There is a need to develop a mathematical model / systematic bioinformatics system that allows existing data on crops to be used in predicting trends and patterns in crop production.

There is also a need to look at advances in agriculture sector, such as carbon sequestration, biomass utilization and other biomass initiatives.

Chairperson: Thank you for the feedback. To add on to list of the suggestions: One, we should review methods of farming and start addressing perceptions of risk. For example, announcement of scientific discoveries made by the science community has to come from credible institutions or people.

Dr. Stephen Goldson: There is a possibility for the scientists to explore the use of cellulosic enzymes to get energy out of plants which we cannot consume.

There is a study conducted by UTM in collaboration with DTU and Shell on the overall industrial perspective and options available in palm oil. This study explores the positive and negative options that would affect carbon footprint of the industry. It was found that POME (palm oil mill effluent) can be used to produce biogas, which serves as a 2-in-1 function of eliminating palm oil waste and energy production at the same time. It was also found that the easiest way to obtain a positive footprint for palm oil mills is to focus on the downstream portion of palm oil production i.e. waste management; by having biogas produced from waste, palm oil mills reduce pollution, reduce footprint, and generate energy. The problem lies in the structure of industry – as it is in grid system, it is difficult for the recommendation for remote areas e.g. Sabah, Sarawak, Pahang to connect to the grid so that the recommendation becomes more feasible. It is important for policy makers to understand the research, its results; options have to be added and put on the table to be considered.

Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine Ong Soon: We are aware of the problem. It is a result of conventional milling. The option that we are proposing concerns more on preventing the production of effluent in the first place. The washing of oil washes away polyphenols – why wash it away? We could use it upstream but the process might be costly. We are currently working on the puree project and this option enables us to use the whole palm oil kernel, much like transforming tomato into tomato puree.

Chairperson: We should always look at nature for solutions as it is a closed loop system. Climate change has taught us how to innovate technology quickly and the thousands of options available to address climate change should present as we never know how fast we have to adapt to different biological and ecological interactions and consequences taking place due to climate change. We need to work together more closely now than ever before.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman: We should get the scientists to agree to create, under the five heading group of the Global Research Alliance rice, crops, measurement, land use, livestock, a catalogue of all the relevant research regarding climate change and identify the gaps available through the catalogue, to agree on common strategy to address the gaps and make sure the right scientists work on the right problems. I agree with the previous suggestion on “decision tools”; at current stage, particularly in life stock farming, the ultimate control lies on the farmers.  These farmers act as “small businessman”; it is important to create decision tools that help the farmers to identify their own greenhouse gas emission. It is not the scientists that would use the technology but the public; there should be trustful dialogues held but not in an authoritative paternalistic way. The scientists need to make the general population, in this case, the farmers, understand the current issue at hand well. Scientists should also be mindful not to be advocate  one particular solution but instead highlight the issues and the technologies that are available to solve the problem.

Add on to suggestions:

We should encourage more engagement of corporate organizations e.g. Sime Darby in researches concerning climate change as they have the necessary resources to support the cause in climate change.

We should create grand challenges for fields e.g. biotechnology that would contribute to the Global Research Alliance.

Tan Sri Dato Seri Halim Saad: The corporate sector is more than ready to participate in research but the output has to be made visible for the corporate sector to understand and be willing to invest.

I would like to get back to previous comment with regard to oil prices reaching up to USD 150 per barrel. Suffice to say, the price will reach to that stage one day. This is caused by the decline of USD, the need to rely on offshore and deep[9] oil reserves for oil source. Even in Malaysia, the oil reserves are offshore with more than 2,000 metres below. As oil, gas and coal contribute to 70% of greenhouse emission, we need to find ways to reduce the dependence on these energy sources.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman: If the agriculture sector can be more efficient, especially in terms of better food production, greenhouse gas production can be reduced. An example is the comparison between wheat-fed ruminant and grass-fed ruminant. The latter is found to grow better, requires less resource consumption, and produces much less greenhouse gases.

Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor bin Abdul Rahman: The country should be actively engaged in the Global Research Alliance movement. A lot of implementation plan is already in place; the next meeting in Canada is scheduled to address the implementation of all the plans.

4.0 CLOSING REMARKS

Tan Sri Dato Seri Halim Saad

1. Oil, gas and gold are energy sources that will be driven to the point of exhaustion in the near future.
2. It is important to place investment in infrastructure and storage for food processing, especially in South Asia.

Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor bin Abdul Rahman

1. The technology development, resources and research in the scientific community should be shared among all.
2. Malaysia should actively engage in the international network of research.

Dr. Stephen Goldson:

1. Countries cannot embark on solving climate change on their own; instead, they should focus on regional / global collaboration.

Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine Ong Soon:

1. We should also consider poverty as an issue as the current Roundtable Discussion only focuses on climate change and food security.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman

1. Scientists need to be better communicators and listeners and engage in science education as the general population needs to understand the climate change and how it impacts them.

Tan Sri Dr. Salleh Mohd Noor

1. Climate change is a nebulous topic to be tackled.
2. UTM should take the lead and set up a task force to do a simulation model similar to that of IPCC model.
3. The challenge for UTM is to utilise available expertise, develop the simulation model, device a framework and institutionalize elements that would feed into the model.