Climate Smart Soil and Water Management
Theme: Natural Resources Management and Climate Change
Sub-themes:
1. Landscape management for climate-smart agricultural systems
Deliverables:
o Best land scape management practices for CSA identified/recommended
o Database on impacts of landscape management on productivity, adaptation, resilience and mitigation
Research Issues:
• Modeling and assessing impacts of landscape management on productivity, adaptation, resilience, and mitigation (e.g., vulnerability assessment, GHG emission management, sequestration, N deposition, land use); focus on effects on land use change on GHG emission and carbon sequestration;
Climate Smart Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM)
Deliverable:
• Best site-specific Climate Smart ISFM practices (that ensure increased productivity, resilience, adaptive capacity, and mitigation) recommended
• Basic information/database on ISFM contributions to productivity, adaptation, and mitigation generated for further studies and decision making
Research issues
Evaluation (testing at field level and simulation using biophysical models) of ISFM practices on productivity, resilience, carbon sequestration/emission/mitigation/soil quality/health potentials. The practice may include, but not limited to, different nutrient sources (inorganic chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers, bio-fertilizers, etc) and other agricultural amendments, cultivars/varieties (diversified crops and their varieties), tillage practices (e.g., zero tillage, minimum tillage, conservation agriculture, etc), residue management (mulching, incorporation, cover crops, burning, etc), sustainable agricultural intensification practices (SAIs) (e.g., intercropping legumes with other crops, crop rotation, relay cropping, multiple cropping, etc), soil conservation practices (both physical and biological or their integrated use), and water management under different environmental settings; modeling the impacts of ISFMs on GHG emission and carbon sequestration and developing management scenarios under future climate/ modeling mitigation potential of sustainable intensifications; These evaluations should be done under different agricultural systems to understand and quantify the contribution of these agricultural systems to carbon sequestration and minimizing GHGs emission. In general, the research approaches should be geared towards integrated soil-crop-water management that includes ISFM, integrated crop-livestock system, soil conservation, crop diversification, fertilizer management, irrigation, water harvesting, relevant database, etc.
Soil organic carbon and nitrogen management
Deliverables:
• Information on soil organic carbon dynamics, stability, and sequestration potential (mitigation) generated and best soil organic carbon management practices recommended:
• Information on soil nitrogen management and effect on GHG emission generated and best climate smart nitrogen management practices recommended:
Research issues:
assessing impact of soil organic carbon pools (compost, vermi-compost, biochar, manure, crop residue, inorganic fertilizers, agro-forestry systems, bio-fuels, e.t.c.) and rates of application on productivity, carbon dynamics/stability, emission, and sequestration under different land uses (cultivated, grassland, forest, shrubs, bushes, e.t.c), agricultural/ farming systems, and ecological settings through field or laboratory and simulation based studies; assessing carbon sequestration potential of agricultural landscapes.
• evaluating impact of nitrogen pools, fluxes; nitrogen fertilizer management (type-with inhibitors, rate, sizes, time of application, method of application) on productivity, GHGs emission, pollution, and carbon sequestration under different agricultural/farming systems and ecosystem settings.
Climate Smart Water Management
Deliverables:
• Best climate smart water resources management technologies and practices for improving agricultural water productivity and efficiency recommended:
Research issues:
Irrigation (practices, scheduling methods (deficit irrigation, supplementary irrigation, full irrigation, etc), water quality (salinity, sodicity, etc), yield response to irrigation (yield-water relations)), water harvesting practices and technologies (in-situ, ex-situ, rooftop), water storage (soil-water, harvested water, etc) for minimizing unnecessary water losses, tillage practices (tied-ridges, planting in furrows, mulching, etc), recycling of waste water, etc effects on productivity, resilience, and mitigation; integrated soil and water management practices for adapting to salinity (cultural practices, SWC practices (e.g., reduced tillage, incorporation of crop residues, chemical and organic amendments, crop rotation and cover crops); water logging; water management for climate change mitigation
Climate change
Deliverables:
Research issues:
Climate forecasting; modeling approaches to evaluate adaptation scenarios; modeling to evaluate climate change impacts and sensitivities as well as possible adaptation and mitigation strategies; modeling impacts of climate change on water resources (groundwater, surface water, agricultural water, water quality, etc.), various ecosystems (e.g., forests, grasslands, Agro-ecosystems, etc.) and humans, and developing water management scenarios under changing climate; climate suitability evaluation for crop and livestock production and mapping under changing climate; generating scientific evidence on climate; developing early warning and information systems.