[Invitation] 49th RKMVERI Colloquium on “Policy Coordination of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Indo-Pacific: A Journey across Three Continents” – 03 November 2026

We are glad to announce that Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI) will be conducting a special colloquium on “Policy Coordination of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Indo-Pacific: A Journey across Three Continents” on 03 November 2026, 12 Noon at Seminar Hall, Narendrapur Campus.

Speaker :  Prof. Rupak Goswami, RKMVERI
Co-ordinator: Prof. Abhijit Chakrabarti

Abstract

While climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely endorsed across the Indo-Pacific region, national commitments remain uneven, siloed and poorly aligned. This talk argues that the deficit is not only technological or financial but cognitive. Farmers, scientists, ministries and the media reason about the same climate shocks through different cause-and-effect logics, and policy coordination falters where these mental models diverge. Drawing on a Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership (JFIPP) fellowship spanning the USA, Australia, Japan, and India, I trace how mental modelling and document analysis can make these hidden logics visible, comparable and negotiable. Four related knowledge artefacts demonstrate the argument – a) Japan’s 2024–25 rice-price rise shows that integrating the fragmented reasoning of researchers, government and media reveals policy pathways that no single source contains; b) A four-country comparison of agricultural extension (Nepal, India, Uganda, the United States) finds that the countries most exposed to climate risk are the least institutionally equipped to adapt; c) A readiness framework asks when California’s CSA governance can travel to Indo-Pacific nations, and d) an agroecology-first proposal recasts carbon markets around smallholder communities. The fellowship’s methods culminate in a prototype CSA Command Centre that converts thousands of research, policy and media documents across Indo-Pacific countries and regions into auditable, simulation-ready models. I close with candid lessons on what a three-continent fellowship can deliver, what it cannot, and why shared mental models may be the missing foundation of regional climate policy.