Singapore project to cultivate rice sustainably wins WEF award

Decarbonising Rice aims to reduce methane emissions, conserve water, raise crop yields

- Chin Hui Shan

To mitigate the effects of rice cultivation on climate change and meet rising demand for rice, researchers in Singapore have come up with a way to grow it more sustainably.

An initiative by Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) called Decarbonising Rice aims to reduce methane emissions, conserve water and increase rice yields.

The project won the Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) award in the Climate, Nature and Resilience Science category at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January.

It is one of five initiatives that won the inaugural GAEA award for tackling global climate and nature challenges with innovative and scalable solutions.

GAEA is a philanthropic WEF initiative that intends to identify climate solutions and pilot funding models to support and scale them.

"For Asia and South-east Asia, where rice is both a staple food and an economic lifeline, these innovations can make farming more sustainable and resilient," said Mr Peter Chia, chief executive of TLL.

"The project not only addresses climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also empowers smallholder farmers with technologies that improve productivity, adapt to extreme weather and secure livelihoods."

Traditional methods of rice cultivation, such as flooding padi fields, make up about 10 per cent of global man-made methane emissions, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).