At Bengaluru Tech Summit experts pin hopes on technological interventions for a sustainable future Premium

Climate change has been one of the biggest threats of this era posing major challenges to food and water security to not just human beings, but all species. But can science and technology address some of these issues, if not all, and offer a glimmer of hope of a sustainable future? Experts say yes.

Climate change has been one of the biggest threats of this era posing major challenges to food and water security to not just human beings, but all species. But can science and technology address some of these issues, if not all, and offer a glimmer of hope of a sustainable future? Experts say yes.

“The very basis of global climate action is based on data and technology. Science has given us very clear data estimation that if we follow this path we are not going to survive. That’s how all the action related to climate has started,” says Guruprakash Sastry, head of climate action at Infosys.

Mr. Sastry was moderating a discussion on ‘Tech interventions for a sustainable future’ at the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Technologies like Blockchain, IoT and AI are not often discussed in the context of agriculture or water treatment. However, panelists who took part in the discussion that the efficient application of these technologies in such sectors can bring about drastic changes.

In India agriculture is the largest consume of freshwater resources, using around 70 to 80%. However, technologies that try to solve the water problem, often leave out this piece of the puzzle.

“We are producing a lot of wastewater. But, what is thought of as ‘waste’ is nitrogen and an input for crops. So, can we connect this wastewater directly to the farmers and reduce the load directly? Even if we impact one to two percent of agriculture that would be huge in terms of the absolute number,’ said Sagar N. from Farm & Field crop and digital solutions.

A major challenge in farming has been the deteriorating quality of soil. Mr. Sagar noted that the organic content in soil has reduced by 80%. This affects the water retention ability of the soil which in turn result in increased consumption of water for the same amount of yield.