Environmental Sciences Global Change - Climate Change
Springer Climate
Combating Global Warming
The Role of Crop Wild Relatives for Food Security
Authors: Prabhakaran Nair, Kodoth
Provides unique insights in the value of Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) in plant breeding
Examines the threat that global warming poses to food security
Discusses the role of world seed conservation measures in Britain and Norway
This book critically examines the environmental hazards posed by global warming with regard to future food security, which will depend on a combination of stresses, both biotic and abiotic, imposed by climate change; variability of weather within a growing season; and the development of cultivars that are more sensitive to different ambient conditions. Furthermore, the ability to develop effective adaptive strategies which allow these cultivars to express their genetic potential under changing climate conditions will be essential.
In turn, the book investigates those plant species which are very closely related to field crops and have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, e.g. resistance to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses, enriching the gene pool, and ultimately leading to enhanced plant yield, known as "Crop Wild Relatives" (CWRs). CWRs hold tremendous potential to sustain and enhance global food security, contributing to human well-being. Accordingly, their development, characterization and conservation in crop breeding programs have assumed great practical importance.
Professor Kodoth Prabhakaran Nair is an internationally acclaimed agricultural scientist, with over three decades of experience in Europe, Africa and Asia, holding some of the most prestigious academic positions, including the National Chair of the Science Foundation, The Royal Society, Belgium. A Senior Fellow of the world renowned Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation of The Federal Republic of Germany, he is best known, globally, for having developed a revolutionary soil management technique, known as "The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept", which, while questioning the scientific fallacies of the highly soil extractive farming, euphemistically known as the "green revolution", has opened up an alternative path for sensible and scientific soil management
Kodoth Prabhakaran Nair is an eminent international agricultural scientist who has worked in Europe, Africa and Asia for more than three decades, during which he has held a number of prominent academic positions, including the National Chair of the Science Foundation, The Royal Society, Belgium; Professor and Head of the Departments of Agriculture, Soil Sciences and Basic Sciences at The University Center, The Republic of Cameroon; and Senior Professor at the University of Fort Hare, Republic of South Africa – the alma mater of the late Nelson Mandela, and where he began the struggle against apartheid.
Professor Nair is best known, globally, for developing "The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept", a revolutionary soil management technique that is changing the face of modern farming in the developing world. The recipient of several national and international awards for developing this concept and currently nominated for the 2019 Volvo Environment Prize, he has authored ten books, including "ISSUES IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURE", which was launched by India's great President, the late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Raj Bhavan, Chennai. He has received six invitations to contribute invitational chapters to ADVANCES IN AGRONOMY, the magnum opus of agricultural science, a world record. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation. Currently pursuing global agricultural research, he lives with his wife, Dr Pankajam Nair, a nematologist trained in Europe, in Calicut, Kerala State, India.
Nair, Kodoth Prabhakaran
Wild Cereal Cultivation in Israel—Global Warming: An Important Link
Climate-Evolution—The Interrelationship
The Adaptation Range of Wild Crop Species to Fluctuations in Climate Change
Importance of Crop Wild Relatives
A Crop-Wise Comparison of Domestic Gene Pool with Wild Relatives on Ecogeographic Diversity
Relevance of Wild Relatives in Other Crops in Plant Breeding Programs
Conservation Research and Crop Wild Relatives Use
The Threats to Crop Wild Relatives
Gene Flow Between Cultivated Plants and Their Wild Relatives
In Situ Conservation Research in CWR
Ex Situ Conservation Research in CWR
Utilizing CWRs in Major Food Crops to Combat Global Warming
The CWR of Minor Fruit Crops
Ecosystem Services of Crop Wild Relatives
Predictive Characterization of CWRs
CWR and Pre Breeding in the Context of the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA)
Pre Breeding by Utilizing CWR
Economics of CWR Under Climate Change
Conservation Economics of CWR
The Millennium Seed Bank—Their Conservation Roles and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Kodoth Prabhakaran Nair
XV, 120
7 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour