Our Engagement in Climate & Sustainability
Research and innovation to ensure the resilience of the world’s water and food systems in the face of the global climate crisis
There is little doubt that the Earth’s rapidly changing climate is significantly challenging water, food, and agriculture systems around the world. In addition to changes in temperature, precipitation patterns, and pest populations, weather extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as a result of the climate crisis. Taken together, these factors present extraordinary threats to water and food security for all of humankind. Therefore, it is a J-WAFS priority to fuel research and innovation that will help ensure the resilience of the world’s water and food systems even as they are increasingly pressured by the effects of climate change. Through research as varied as the development of low-carbon desalination technologies and the application of remote sensing and data analytics to assess agriculture vulnerability to climate change, J-WAFS marshals MIT resources to meet these grave, complex, and varied challenges with actionable knowledge and solutions. The resilience of each of these intersecting systems is at stake, as is the sustainability of the Earth’s ecosystems on which they depend.
Examples of our work in this area
Research Highlights
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The role of livestock in climate change: Holistic greenhouse gas assessments and implications for human diets
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Novel spectrofluorometer for online early detection of harmful algal blooms
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Advancing technology development to improve microbiome processes for controlling harmful bacteria blooms in aquaculture algae feed production
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Persistent monitoring of nitrogen waste products in the environment
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Optimizing cereal crop plant architecture during an era of high atmospheric CO2
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