SW New Mexico News

Two New Mexico State University researchers in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences were part of an interdisciplinary team of scientists, led by Colorado State University, who contributed to the National Climate Change Roadmap. This collaborative document is designed to serve as a framework for future investments in climate-science research.

Owen Burney, NMSU associate professor and research director of the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center in Mora, N.M., and Santiago Utsumi, NMSU associate professor of range science in the NMSU Department of Animal and Range Sciences, participated in the roadmap’s development.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture provided $300,000 in grant funding for the yearlong project. The roadmap was officially released last fall at the annual meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

Eugene Kelly, Colorado State University professor and deputy director of the Agriculture Experiment Station, and Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Jan Leach co-led the collaborative effort to draft the roadmap. Sixty-one leading scientists representing 51 academic and research institutions across the country contributed insights that helped shape the roadmap.

“The report identifies seven priority areas for climate change research and coordinated actions by interdisciplinary research groups,” Utsumi said. “The report also highlights the importance and role of emerging technologies, tools and practices — many of which are being tested at NMSU — to guide climate-smart decision-making and policy.”

The seven priority areas that form the backbone of the roadmap are:

- Focusing on system-based innovations.

- Co-designing research with producers and communities.

- Mitigating and adapting through ecosystem management.

- Harnessing climate-informed water management.

- Integrating energy-efficient ag tech.

- Incorporating sustainable and regenerative ag practices.

- Assessing the socioeconomic impacts of climate change and policy implications.

Researchers see the roadmap as a tool that will help improve dialogue and information-sharing among scientists, policymakers, and producers.

“Climate resiliency is not going to be solved by siloed disciplinary studies,” Leach said. “It’s going to require that we work across disciplines, across communities — and that we think more boldly and outside the box.”

Contributing researchers view the roadmap as a document that can be used to advise funding decisions beyond USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“It’s up to scientists and producers to come together with ideas and proposals,” Kelly said. “But we hope this stimulates changes in other agencies as well. We see this as a living document. We hope people will use it, and that there will be new ideas coming out of it.”