Climate and the Environment

Having visited the beautiful, serene landscapes of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (RBGE) many times as a visitor, I jumped at the chance to see ‘behind the scenes’, meeting some of the researchers who are carving their path in plant science research. I have to confess that my PhD is not at all related to plants – I am studying zoonotic bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance in wildlife and livestock at a neighbouring SEFARI partner, the Moredun Research Institute.

The highly interconnected nature of the many factors influencing land and water management can make communicating management options a challenge. Balance is key, managing economic, health, social, and environmental requirements within the limitations of land and water availability. Furthermore, the “out of sight, out of mind” nature of groundwater can exacerbate challenges in exploring and communicating management options.

Intercropping - where two or more crop species are grown simultaneously on the same piece of land – could provide one solution: intercrops increase diversity at the scale of entire fields and have the potential to boost production with fewer inputs. There are many ways in which intercropping can be practiced, ranging from mixtures harvested together for use as ‘whole crops’ or for separation post-harvest, to relay intercrops grown together but harvested on separate dates, through to unharvested companion crops supporting the growth of the main cash crop.

The theme for this year’s Arable Scotland is ‘Innovating for the Future’. There will be three ‘Arable Conversations’ which will focus on key topics affecting the industry.

SEFARI has a wee bit of ‘previous’ at BSAS, having organised, sponsored and hosted a number of sessions over the past few years, including a panel debate on ‘Can we have our meat and eat it?’ in 2019; a virtual One Health session at the height of COVID in 2021; and a session on ‘Reducing GHGs from animal agriculture’ in 2022.

Climate change affects everyone, but the impacts are felt in different ways by different people all over the world. Countries with lower socioeconomic status are often hit harder, alongside countries and populations that rely more on their economy and environment for natural resources. Profession, as well as location, also ties into how individuals may be impacted. For example, farmers can be some of the hardest hit by changing global climates, as unpredictable weather and rainfall damage agricultural yields. Similarly, different demographics respond to the crisis in different ways.

Too often, biodiversity conservation news reporting focusses on negative stories with little regard to the amazing efforts being made to counter our diminishing resources and the associated successes seen in biodiversity conservation. We see our role, and that of the festival, as being a platform to show people these good news stories and help promote the values of the conservation optimism movement.