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In countless ways, developments based on scientific research have made our world healthier, more prosperous and opened up new opportunities. But the power of science to transform lives and societies also comes with great responsibilities.
Alfred Nobel was an extraordinary chemist and engineer but also someone with profound interest in wider social issues. He hoped his invention of dynamite, with its terrible power, would deter war. Instead, it led to destruction on a previously unimaginable scale. His response was to use his fortune to endow a fund to encourage efforts to make the world a better and more peaceful place.
It was a similar journey followed by perhaps your greatest alumni, Albert Einstein who brought scientists together to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons his research had helped make possible. He too urged scientists to look beyond their own narrow fields, to engage in society and help find solutions.
As Einstein once said: “any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction” There are many areas where you can make a contribution. But let me focus on two priorities: food and nutrition security and climate change. Today, more than 1 billion people suffer from hunger. By the time the students in this room have grandchildren; there will be another two billion mouths to feed. To meet that extra demand, global food production need to increase by 70%.
Let me take the example of Africa – the only continent which does not produce enough food to feed its own people. The science-based agricultural development, based on the ideas of another Nobel Laureate, Norman Borlaug, transformed food production in Asia. But it bypassed Africa.
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As UN Secretary-General, I commissioned a study from the Inter Academy Council to analyze why this had happened and what should be done to address the problem. The conclusions and recommendations of that study ultimately led to the concept of a “Uniquely African Green Revolution”. It is based on promoting modern and sustainable agriculture with emphasis on improved seeds, and integrated soil fertility and water management practices for the benefit primarily of small-holder farmers who account for 80% of Africa’s agricultural production.
Borlaug’s vision and work still remain an inspiration for many organizations including the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa – or AGRA – that I have the honour to chair. Through a combination of advocacy, partnerships and practical policies, AGRA works to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger by improving agricultural productivity and sustainability. In the fight against hunger, the scientific community has a critical role to play through research and technology development. We need you to step up co-operation with the continent’s own scientists and research institutions to help launch Africa’s own green revolution.
There is huge potential. African scientists may not have the luxury of the excellent laboratory and research grants enjoyed here in Europe. But this has not stopped them leading the way in tackling the food needs of the continent.
Take the example of Monty Jones of Sierra Leone who was awarded the World Food Prize in 2004 for the development of New Rice for Africa – or NERICA. It is a new rice variety, combining the high yield of Asian rice with the drought tolerance and weed competitiveness of its African counterpart.
Yet, despite success like this one, the challenges remain colossal. First, many of the seeds African farmers use remain “inherently low-yielding and vulnerable to a host of crop diseases and pests”. We need scientists to improve conventional plant breeding in order to create new varieties of crops, more resistant to local conditions. Second, scientific research can help develop new fertilizer and methods of biological nitrogen fixation that will have significant benefits for environmental sustainability. Third, farmers need new efficient water management techniques that will get “more crop per drop of water” with the minimum use of chemical inputs.
Ultimately, it is only through strategic partnerships and networks between scientists here and those in Africa that we will be able to advance the power of science for development and greater food and nutrition security. And it can work. By combining local knowledge with the potential of science, AGRA has already helped national scientists release over 90 new crop varieties, well adapted to Africa’s diverse agro-climatic conditions.
History shows that by translating scientific discovery into accessible and affordable technologies, the scientific community can help feed our world in a way that is environmentally sustainable. The challenge of feeding the world is, of course, being made more difficult by the impact of climate change.
Increases in temperature and changing rainfall patterns are already turning vast tracts of once productive land into semi-desert. More frequent storms and flooding are damaging crops on which people depend. For global warming is not an academic exercise but a man-made reality for which the scientific evidence is incontrovertible. Far from being limited to the environment, it is an all-encompassing threat – a threat to our security, our health, our food supplies and our social stability.
Successfully addressing the complexity of such a threat will require a shift similar to the Copernicus revolution. A revolution towards a green economy with more efficient means of production that moves us closer to a carbon-neutral energy infrastructure.
