Public lecture with the Director of ICARDA: Dry Area Agriculture: A Challenge that can be Overcome (22 May, Ottawa, Canada)

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 Lands 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.

Solh also served as Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Throughout his career he has focused on food security, alleviating poverty, and developing sustainable agricultural systems; agricultural research for development; and promoting North-South and South-South cooperation.

Solh holds a PhD in genetics from the University of California, Davis and is the author of more than 120 publications. His contribution to agricultural research and development has been recognized through several prestigious awards and honours.

This event is free but seating is limited so please register.

French and English simultaneous interpretation will be available.

If you can’t join us in person, watch the live webcast at http://www.idrc.ca/events-solh (at 14:00, Ottawa time). Questions may be submitted during the talk and will be answered as time permits. There is no need to register to join the webcast.

Information: 613 696-2101