India: Centre of excellence on climate change research launched

To support sustainable food production in drought prone areas in India as well as in other developing countries, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST-Climate Change Program), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, launched the Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection (CoE-CCRPP)at the ICRISAT headquarters near Hyderabad, reports FnBnews.com.

"The project is a long-term commitment of DST, and we are confident that the knowledge and basic data to be generated from this initiative will be very useful for policy formulation on climate change at both the country and regional levels," stated Dr Akhilesh Gupta, advisor, DST-CCP.

According to the report, Dr Dave Hoisington, ICRISAT, deputy director-general, spoke of the institute's R4D initiatives that generate science-based solutions and pro-poor approaches for adaptation, particularly of rainfed agricultural systems to climate change.