Greenhouse workshop looks at Australia's future climate and crop disease loss
The impact of the enhanced greenhouse effect on Australia's major crops and their diseases will be the focus of a workshop at the University of Queensland this month.
The workshop, on April 15 and 16 at Emmanuel College, is funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. It brings together leading plant protection researchers from around Australia chosen for their broad experience in plant diseases affecting Australia's major agricultural crops.
Organiser, Dr Sukumar Chakraborty from the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Tropical Plant Pathology and the CSIRO, said he believed a workshop of this type was long overdue.
"Global climate is changing at a faster rate than in the past 10,000 years plus and the concentration of the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has risen by about 30 percent since 1800," he said.
"If these changes continue at the current rate they could markedly alter the physiology and geographical distribution of crop plants and affect their resistance to diseases. Diseases currently of minor significance may become more damaging."
Dr Chakraborty said the workshop would follow a "no-regrets" approach. "We are not predicting a doomsday scenario," he said.
"Rather, by employing this approach, we will understand more about the diseases currently affecting crops in Australia and if predicted changes occur we will be well-prepared.
"After all, climate change would pose both opportunities and threats to the cropping industry. Fungi, bacteria and viruses which cause diseases in our crop plants are ideal as early warn-
ing indicators due to their short life span and rapid response to subtle changes in climate".
Workshop participants will use interactive models and techniques already employed by a collaborative team of researchers from two CRCs (Tropical Plant Pathology and Tropical Pest Management), two CSIRO Divisions (Tropical Agriculture and Entomology) and the
University of Queensland. Many team members are world leaders in climate change impact research.
The workshop will feature a hands-on demonstration of computer modelling tools at 3pm on April 15.
Computer modelling tools are already used extensively by impact assessment researchers. Dr Chakraborty said these tools would assist the participants to understand and apply currently available information on the impact of climate change to important diseases
of key crops in Australia.
For more information, contact Dr Chakraborty (telephone 3365
2711).
03/04/97
