Nebraska Legislature - Special Committee - Climate Change Seminar

Ms. Molly Nance & Dr. Nick Brozovic Author

06/08/2016 Added

177 Plays

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Seminar on Climate Change for the Climate Change Seminar for Elected Officials of the Nebraska Legislature - Water for Food

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[00:00:00.000]Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University
[00:00:01.781]we are one of the newer kids on the block.
[00:00:04.192]We were formed in 2010 with a generous $50 million grant
[00:00:08.435]from the Robert B. Daugherty foundation.
[00:00:11.044]And they provided this funding
[00:00:12.983]because of the university's long history
[00:00:15.448]of leadership and expertise in agriculture,
[00:00:18.531]water management, obviously climate,
[00:00:22.222]all of those things that are a part of food security
[00:00:27.044]and ways that we are approaching
[00:00:30.303]ways to solve and make sure that
[00:00:33.352]we have the food security that we need going forward.
[00:00:36.598]In addition to climate change
[00:00:38.237]things like increased population growth
[00:00:41.974]changing urban and rural migration patterns
[00:00:45.815]changing diets as people are increasing in income
[00:00:50.417]and are changing their diets to more meat and dairy
[00:00:53.080]these are all things that are intensifying
[00:00:55.404]water use and our increasing demands for water.
[00:00:59.023]And with agriculture taking up 70% of our fresh water usage
[00:01:03.592]we really do need to take a look at ways that we can
[00:01:07.360]more efficiently use our water resources
[00:01:09.744]to ensure that we have what we need for agriculture
[00:01:12.532]but also ensure that we have what we need for other uses.
[00:01:16.077]The Water for Food Institute works through
[00:01:18.136]research and policy as well as education and communication
[00:01:21.594]those are the four areas that we work in.
[00:01:24.759]And we work very closely with the NDMC, IANR
[00:01:30.167]and other departments throughout the university.
[00:01:33.771]We are system-wide. One of the things I think
[00:01:36.461]that gives the Water for Food Institute
[00:01:40.608]the impact that we are able to have
[00:01:42.966]is that we are interdisciplinary
[00:01:45.535]we have over 100 faculty fellows
[00:01:48.183]and students and doctoral graduate students
[00:01:51.693]working on projects all related to water and food security.
[00:01:57.192]A couple of the examples that I want to share with you
[00:02:00.099]we recently have a large grant
[00:02:04.049]that we are part of a consortium with IANR
[00:02:07.116]and other universities in the area
[00:02:10.210]as part of a $10 million project
[00:02:12.354]to take a look at the Ogallala Aquifer
[00:02:14.791]and how we are managing water
[00:02:17.058]throughout the Ogallala Aquifer area.
[00:02:19.848]In Nebraska we're quite fortunate
[00:02:21.915]the aquifer is about the same level today
[00:02:24.647]it was about 50 years ago
[00:02:26.527]even though as Nick pointed out earlier
[00:02:29.641]Nebraska is one of the largest irrigators in the world.
[00:02:33.449]That we're able to do that for a couple of reasons
[00:02:36.539]one is the luck of having the Sand Hills geography
[00:02:39.614]that acts as a very helpful sponge
[00:02:42.733]and a recharge organism.
[00:02:46.017]But we also have very effective
[00:02:48.027]water management practices in Nebraska.
[00:02:50.613]And that's something that we've been working
[00:02:52.948]through the institute to help communicate
[00:02:55.834]is how we're using the NRD system
[00:02:59.849]and local governance to make water usage
[00:03:03.217]more effective throughout our state
[00:03:05.166]and to share these lessons globally.
[00:03:08.324]We're also working with USAID supported project
[00:03:12.979]with ICBA and the NDMC
[00:03:15.372]to develop a drought monitoring system for the MENA region
[00:03:18.538]that's the Northern countries in Africa
[00:03:21.262]obviously drought and climate change
[00:03:24.155]has affected that area as well.
[00:03:26.485]So here's an example of where we're using the expertise
[00:03:29.690]that we have here in Nebraska,
[00:03:31.201]the research that we've developed here in Nebraska
[00:03:34.045]and sharing that around the world.
[00:03:36.875]The Water for Food Institute we like to think
[00:03:39.780]that we are taking the local expertise
[00:03:41.771]and sharing it globally and conversely learning
[00:03:45.365]and taking those lessons learned
[00:03:47.385]from projects that we're doing internationally
[00:03:49.573]and seeing how they can benefit us here in Nebraska.
[00:03:53.473]That's a quick overview of what we do.
[00:03:56.126]I would encourage you to take a look at the brochure
[00:03:58.671]that you have in your handouts.
[00:03:59.504]Also on our website which is
[00:04:02.921]waterforfood.nebraska.edu.
[00:04:05.604]We do have a twice monthly email newsletter that goes out
[00:04:08.887]that shares more about the many
[00:04:10.739]different projects that we have going on.
[00:04:13.024]And thank you for inviting us to be a part of this.
[00:04:14.817]You are welcome.

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Nebraska Legislature - Special Committee - Climate Change Seminar

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