On December 07, 2023, at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Pakistan, the 3rd International Conference on “Innovations in Agriculture to Ensure Food Security in Changing Climate” with the theme “Climate Change Threats to Agriculture” took place. The International Center for Climate Change, Food Security & Sustainability (ICCFS) at IUB in Pakistan and the International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES) in Beijing, China, jointly coordinated this event.
Renowned scientists from China and Canada attended the conference to talk about how the food, fuel, and financial problems are intertwined and have made poverty and food insecurity worse, especially in emerging nations like our own. The past five years have seen a sharp increase in food prices worldwide, making food less accessible to many people and highlighting more serious structural problems with the world’s food production system. Prof. Dr. Ian Sutherland, Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Akhtar Cheema, Prof. Drs. Sonja Knutson, Kimberly Jarvi, and Shaukat Ali from the Center for Global Child Health at Sick-Kids Hospital at Toronto University, Dr. Alamgir from the University of Guelf, Canada, and Prof. Dr. Zhaohui LIN, Director of ICCES, Beijing, China are among the delegates from Memorial University of Canada. Prof. Dr. Tanveer Hussain Turabi, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture & Environment; Prof. Dr. Shazia Anjum, Patron, CCSC/Dean Faculty of Chemical & Biological Sciences; and Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza, Chairman, Agronomy, FA&E, IUB served as the event’s hosts. Prof. Dr. Naveed Akhtar, Vice Chancellor, IUB-Pakistan, presided over the proceedings. Prof. Dr. Shazia Anjum in her introductory remarks described IUB unique initiative of its kind for creating a network of association between academia, research organizations, non-government organizations, private sector, government departments, and industrial partners in the form of Consortium on Climate Change, Sustainability and Conservation.
The International Delegates’ time was greatly appreciated by the Focal Person, Prof. Dr. Wajid Nasim Jatoi, Director, ICCFS, who traveled from Canada to Pakistan to begin a number of cooperative endeavors, including cooperation, capacity building, and productive dialogue. Prof. Dr. Tanveer Hussain Turabi, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, recognized the outstanding contributions of international delegates from Memorial University of Canada and Sick-Kids Hospital of Toronto University of Canada in his concluding remarks.
The Institution of Universities and Pakistan (IUB) have launched the Consortium on Climate Change, Sustainability & Conservation (CCSC), which includes over 57 Universities, Research Organizations, Private Sectors, and Industries from all over Pakistan (including Gilgit Baltistan, ICT, KPK, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan). International cooperation has also recently been established to tackle the main issues surrounding climate change, agriculture, food security, sustainability, etc.
