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

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

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 levelsA 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 approachA 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