 Testing, testing, one, two, three, and welcome to Glasgow, where we are live from COP26. As you know, the IAEA is here to talk about all the ways nuclear can help tackle climate change. Later in the week, we'll be focusing on nuclear power and how it can help us reach net zero emissions. But today, we're talking about climate change adaptation. And I have with me here, Martin Krause, hello, nice to meet you, from the Technical Cooperation Program, which helps countries use nuclear technology to meet their development goals. So, Martin, for many people, nuclear is not the first thing that pops into their head when they hear about climate change adaptation in particular. In what ways can nuclear science help people deal with the impact of climate change? Apologies for the noise. It's very busy here. Katie, thank you very much for this question. Indeed, it is true. When we talk about climate change adaptation, nuclear or nuclear techniques and technologies is not something that most people think about. We have recently documented how nuclear techniques and technologies contribute to address climate adaptation challenges. We have to realize that climate adaptation is relevant in all sectors. Here we are talking about water, environment, industry, agriculture. It's a very complex issue. And nuclear techniques and nuclear technologies can play a role and have indeed played a role in many countries, helping governments, private businesses, institutions to adapt to climate change. Now, how would that work in practice? I give you an example from agriculture. We call this climate-smart agriculture, so we have programs to help farmers to change their crops to make them more drought resilient. Climate change is coming with an impact on weather patterns, and many countries experience more drought or more flooding. So the crops, they are struggling, so we have techniques where we can help the farmers to grow more drought-resistant crops. We have done this for certain rice varieties in Asia, for cow peas in Zimbabwe. And that is just one example where nuclear technologies are helping in the agricultural sector to adapt to climatic changes. So it's making a real impact on the ground? Yes, indeed. Can you tell me a little bit more about your work with insects? Yeah, we have, there is a particular technique called the sterile insect technique. And that is a very fascinating science actually behind it. And the way it works, you sterilize the insects and then you release them, and so they cannot then reproduce. Now how does that help with climate change, and how is that connected, you know, to making the agricultural sector more resilient and the health sector more resilient to climate change? It is because certain diseases, with the warming climate, they spread in regions where there previously was no such disease and no insects, you know, that could thrive in a colder and drier climate. Now with the warming and more humidity, certain insects, they go into regions where they were not before. So with this technique, we make sure that the insect population is controlled and so the vector-borne diseases cannot be transmitted. Now this is a very concrete example of the contribution of nuclear techniques to climate adaptation efforts. And in terms of monitoring, can you tell me what it is about nuclear science that makes it so well suited for monitoring the environment? Yes, indeed. Monitoring the environment is another big, big topic. Why? Because we need to know exactly what is happening. Nuclear science is precision science. It gives you very, very precise data. And that is what you want because the scientists that we all rely on, they need to have very, very precise data at their disposal. And this is exactly what nuclear science is doing. It gives precise data to those decision makers who need to have a good and firm ground before they make, you know, sweeping political decisions. And this is in terms of water in particularly and oceans? Yes, for example, when it comes to water and ocean, we have a technique, you know, it's called the isotope hydrology. It's a very technical term. But that is basically, you can see a raindrop where it comes from, how it flows, you know, through the hydrological system. You can, we have an example from the Sahel in Africa. Let me give you an example. The Sahel in Africa is a very dry and arid zone, obviously. And you know, water is the scarce commodity. So what you want to know is how much water is underground because there is no surface water. So with this technology, we can see underground in the Sahel, what is the volume of the water bodies? How old is the water? Where is it coming from? What is the replenishment rate? And so on. So this is another good example, where isotope hydrology can help and nuclear precision science can help populations to adapt to climatic changes. So nuclear science can help in many surprising ways. Indeed. And in terms of oceans, how are we involved in oceans work? We're based in Vienna. It's not so close to the ocean. Yes. Katie, you're right. Austria, in fact, is a landlocked country. But you know, the IEA has laboratories in Monaco. And these marine laboratories are doing research. And they're also connected to global research networks on marine pollution issues, or on ocean acidification, or on marine plastics, on many issues that are related to the oceans. So there, for example, we do research and we also build the capacity of other laboratories around the world to use nuclear science to exactly determine what is the state of pollution, what is the state of ocean acidification, because the climatic system and the ocean system, they are interconnected. So the ocean changes that we are seeing are also spurred to a certain extent, at least, by the climatic changes. And you want to know exactly how that connection works and what the impact of climate on the oceans is. And that is where our laboratories in Monaco and then also our technical cooperation program, which we are using to transfer certain technologies and the knowledge and to build the capacity around the world in our member states on handling these kind of technologies that we are talking about here. And we're going to be talking more about this next week, this week on Saturday, at our event. Can you tell a bit more about what the event's about? Yes, thank you, Katie, for giving me that opportunity to make some propaganda for our own event. We have on Saturday afternoon here in Glasgow at the COP26, we have the first ever event on nuclear technologies and climate adaptation. This is a very exciting panel of experts that is coming together to talk about and to provide examples of how nuclear science and nuclear technology can help countries to adapt to climate change. So we have lined up some very exciting speakers and I would like to invite all of you to join us online or if you are here in Glasgow also to come here to the Blue Zone, it is, I believe, right, in the Blue Zone. Yes. Thank you, Martin, that was really, really interesting. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Please tune in again tomorrow when we're going to speak to UN Oceans Envoy Peter Thompson. Goodbye.