Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO

ALTENA (Asian Long-Term Experimental Network for Agriculture)

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ALTENA pictures

About

What is ALTENA?
Asian Long-Term Experimental Network for Agricultural (ALTENA) is a research consortia consisting of individual scientists who are involved in agricultural long-term field experiments with a focus on soil or plant-soil interaction. ALTENA was launched on March 1st, 2017 by the scientists who participated in the NARO-MARCO international symposium on "Soil carbon sequestration: Needs and prospects under the 4 per 1000 initiative" held in Tsukuba, Japan. The member consists of experts from eight countries.

Long-term field experiments have been providing one of the most valuable scientific basis to assess long-term sustainability of agricultural lands. Now, ALTENA has an additional importance to examine the options and the degree of success towards the goals for "The 4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for food security and climate" established during COP21 (Dec 2015, Paris).

Asia holds more than half of world population and experiences high pressure for agricultural intensification and expansion. Enormous variation in climate, soil type, and cultural practices is present in Asia. We need to account for these factors when assessing soil carbon sequestration potentials and agricultural sustainability. ALTENA is therefore established to promote ALTENA among Asian countries and beyond.

naro-marco symposium 2017
Speakers in the NARO-MARCO International Symposium 2017

Mission

The mission of ALTENA is to provide scientific basis and management options for soil C sequestration and agricultural sustainability in Asia and beyond. Following is the present goals of our network to accomplish our mission.

  • To facilitate collaboration, exchange of information and scientists, and the formation of joint research
  • To provide long-term dataset to the global science community
  • To show the public and decision makers the importance of long-term field experiment thereby securing funding to maintain and strengthen such programs in Asia.

Members

  • ANGELES, Olivyn (IRRI, Philippine)
  • CHEN, Chiling (Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taiwan)
  • CHENU, Claire (INRA/Agro Paris Tech, France)
  • CHERUKUMALLI, Srinivasa Rao (ICAR-CRIDA, India)
  • KUBOTERA, Hideo (NARO, Japan)
  • LUANMANEE, Suphakarn (DOA, Thailand)
  • MATSUURA, Shoji (NARO, Japan)
  • MATSUMOTO, Naruo (JIRCAS, Japan)
  • SHIRATO, Yasuhito (NARO, Japan)
  • UTOMO, Muhajir (University of Lampung, Indonesia)
  • WAGAI, Rota (NARO, Japan)
  • WATANABE, Takeshi (JIRCAS, Japan)
  • XU, Minggang (CAAS, China)
  • YELURIPATI, Jagadeesh (The James Hutton Institute, UK)

Contact

For further details and inquiries, please contact us at: altena@ml.affrc.go.jp

ALTENA sites

  • China36 sites (including 12 paddy sites)
  • India
  • Indonesia1 (upland site)
  • Philippine1 (paddy site)
  • Japan83 sites (including 36 paddy & 10 grassland sites)
  • Taiwan7 (including 5 paddy sites)
  • Thailand7 (upland sites)

Activities

2017.02.29
The NARO-MARCO international symposium on "Soil carbon sequestration: Needs and prospects under the 4 per 1000 initiative" was held in Tsukuba, Japan

2017.3.21-2017.3.23
C. Chenu, Y. Shirato and M. Xu attended the FAO Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon (GSOC17) in Rome, Italy. Website Link

2017.3.24-2017.3.25
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 2nd meeting of the science and technical committee of the FAO "4 per 1000" initiative in Rome, Italy.

2017.6.28-2017.6.30
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 3rd meeting of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the 4 per 1000 initiative in Montpelier, France.

2017.9.3-2017.9.7
C. Chenu and R. Wagai attended 6th International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter held at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, United Kingdom.

2017.11.14-2017.11.15
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 4th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the 4 per 1000 initiative in Bonn, Germany.

2018.5.21-2018.5.23
C. Chenu, O. Angeles and Y. Shirato attended the conference "The future of long-term experiments in agricultural science" in Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, U. K.

2018.6.5-2018.6.7
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 5th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the 4 per 1000 initiative in Madrid, Spain.

2018.8.12-2018.8.17
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 21st World Soil Congress of Soil Science in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2018.9.27-2018.9.28
C. Chen, S. Matsuura, Y. Shirato and R. Wagai attended the NARO-FFTC-MARCO Symposium 2018 "Climate Smart Agriculture for the Small-Scale Farmers in the Asian and Pacific Region" in Tsukuba, Japan.

2018.12.11-2018.12.13
C. Chenu and Y. Shirato attended the 6th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the 4 per 1000 initiative in Katowice, Poland.

2019.2.26-2019.3.2
R. Wagai and S. Matuura visited long-term rice paddy field experiment sites at IRRI and PhilRice.

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