Figure: IP COO Michael Gerba and DG Barbara Wells listen to APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting 2016 discussions.

CIP, September 27, 2016 By Amy Rogers Nazarov

For the past two-plus, numerous CIP officials were present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Piura, Peru, which concluded September 27.

For the past two-plus, numerous CIP officials were present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Piura, Peru, discussing food security and climate change.

Members of the 21 APEC “economies” – APEC’s term for its member countries – were present at talks given by CIP’s director general Barbara Wells and others at the event. 

In her remarks, Wells reminded APEC attendees to pay close attention to the effects of climate change on global crops. “Climate change and increasingly extreme weather patterns and events are all having huge impacts on agricultural production,” she noted. “The economic effects on local communities are staggering. Crop yields are under threat, as are traditional crops grown in areas where climate change may force radical changes in cropping patterns. Climate resilience and tolerance to drought, heat and salinity are fundamental characteristics to coping with a changing climate.”