Drought research | Canada has withdrawn financial support for project
A world-renowned irrigation specialist and winner of the 2012 World Food Prize says the Canadian government is wrong to abandon an international drought research effort.
Israeli soil and water scientist Daniel Hillel argued that continued research on drought mitigation policies is important in a world where climate is changing and water shortages are a growing issue.
The federal government became the first United Nations member to withdraw from a UN convention on researching causes and answers to combating drought, citing the fact that much of its annual contribution of close to $300,000 went to bureaucracy rather than research.
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“I don’t understand why Canada would take that action,” Hillel said in an interview after an Ottawa speech at the International Development Research Centre, which helped fund his research in the 1970s.
“Canada has been very active over the decades in international affairs. Canada is a very progressive country and is exemplary in many ways. I don’t understand why it would abandon this international co-operative venture. I hope it will reconsider.”
He was recognized with the 2012 World Food Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize in agriculture, for his groundbreaking work over 60 years in developing and promoting a micro-irrigation system for agriculture in arid countries.
It was developed for desert areas in Israel and has been applied to parched areas around the world, replacing indiscriminate irrigation flooding with a system of plastic tubing that applies precise and regular water to the roots of plants.
“This is a very precise way of delivering water and water is a very precious resource,” said Hillel, a senior research fellow at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York.
Pesticides and nutrients can be added to the water for focused applications.
He said the system is designed for smaller intensive agricultural operations rather than the larger scale farms found on the Canadian Prairies.
His system is credited with improving farm productivity in more than 30 countries and contributing to water conservation.
He said the traditional form of irrigation flooding is inefficient, wastes water and damages the land by water-logging it and bringing buried salt to the surface.
“Civilizations have been destroyed by degrading the land and misusing water,” he said.
During his speech at the IDRC, Hillel said scientific research and expertise are increasingly needed as world temperatures rise and climate change affects agriculture and soil productivity.
He said greenhouse gas emissions are changing the climate and creating a crisis for food production and sustainability in many parts of the world.
“We have to begin taking measures to reduce the emission of radiating gases,” he said in the interview.
During his speech, Hillel said the threat of climate change must be taken seriously, tackled by science and supported by political decision-makers who can look beyond the next election cycle.
“The danger of hunger has raised its ugly head again,” he said.
