For 35 years, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has tackled food insecurity in challenging environments. But the challenge of improving agriculture, livelihoods, and food security in the Middle East has recently become even more complex. Political upheavals and climate change increasingly threaten these efforts, in a dry region already under environmental stress.
Director General Mahmoud Solh will discuss ICARDA’s experience of delivering an effective program of research in the context of rapid political and environmental change. What lessons have been learned about rebuilding agricultural productive capacity in conflict-affected countries? What good practices might be relevant for other parts of the world? And for the Middle East, what are the implications of the Arab Spring for agriculture and food security?
Please join us for his lecture, “Dry Area Agriculture: A Challenge that can be Overcome”
When: Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Where: IDRC, W. David Hopper Room, 150 Kent Street, 8th floor, Ottawa, ON
Director General of ICARDA since 2006, Mahmoud Solh has been associated with international agricultural research and development since 1972 when he joined the Arid Land Agricultural Development Program of the Ford Foundation in the Near East, ICARDA’s predecessor. IDRC was a founding funder of ICARDA, which is located near Aleppo, Syria.
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