| One of the region’s foremost scientist prepares nationals for major climate change impacts |
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| Written by hotfm |
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The Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) invites members of the public to a Consultation to be held at the Union Orchid Garden, Union Agricultural Station on Wednesday June 20, commencing at 6:00 p.m. The theme of the public consultation is "Managing Soil Water in a Drier Caribbean" and the feature address will be given by Professor of Soil Science at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Nazeer Ahmad. Professor Ahmad is well known to every student who studied agriculture at UWI over the last 40 years and is considered the Caribbean's foremost soil scientist. Members of the scientific community agree that we are living in a time of ‘climate change’ and rising global temperatures. As temperatures continue to rise - perhaps as much as 4ºC by the end of the 21st Century - there will probably be severe effects on rainfall patterns. Many computer models predict that the Caribbean will have less rainfall, even as the number of hurricanes and other severe storms increase. This means that we can look forward to more intense dry seasons and longer droughts. These conditions are not favorable to our agriculture in St Lucia and come at a time when we are suffering from rising food import bills and the need to increase the amount of food grown locally. During his address, Professor Ahmad will be explaining to both serious farmers and to backyard hobby gardeners, better management practices so that crops will continue to grow even in the hotter, drier conditions that are expected sooner rather than later. There will be opportunities for all present to ask questions and to make their own contributions to the Consultation.
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