JAPANESE|ENGLISH

Thu 10 November 15:00-18:30

11/10
THU

15:00-18:30

Title International Agricultural Research Cooperation for Climate Change - Follow-up side event of G7 Niigata Agriculture Ministers' Meeting -
Contents This side event will provide an opportunity for participants to follow the existing initiatives, in particular, GRA (the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases), GACSA (the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture), 4/1000 Initiative, and GSP (FAO's Global Soil Partnership) in a concerted manner and will act as a "catalyst" for facilitating the development of these initiatives, further.
Organiser /
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Programme
Session
Summary
The four initiatives made presentations on their updated activities for providing the participants with the better understanding of each initiative.
- The GRA provides a framework for voluntary action to increase cooperation and investment in research and research implementation activities. The GRA comprises 46 member countries and 14 Partner organizations and conducts its work through four Research Groups and associated Networks, that identify opportunities to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration by improving efficiency and productivity of agricultural systems through increased understanding of management practices and technologies.
- GACSA is an inclusive, voluntary and action-oriented multi-stakeholder coalition on Climate-Smart Agriculture and its core activities are driven through three Action Groups on Knowledge, Investment and Enabling Environment. The alliance also supports and promotes the work of its members, comprised of diverse stakeholder groups including research organizations and institutions. Hence research within GACSA is embodied in the various research programs of these members and the outputs of this research that are relevant to CSA are harnessed through the Knowledge Action Group.
- The aim of the “4/1000 Initiative: soils for food security and climate” (174 members to date) is to provide solutions to both food security and climate challenges by improving soil fertility. Building on a solid scientific expertise and a strong international cooperation program, this multi-stakeholder initiative aims to foster projects and practices that improve the levels of organic matter and carbon sequestration in soils in a sustainable manner. This voluntary initiative under the Global Climate Action Agenda (GCAA) will develop both an action plan and an international research program, and will promote capacity building and exchanges of experiences and learnings.
- Research under the GSP (composed of FAO member countries and more than 400 other non-state partners) aims to engage all potential actors to develop R&D strategies, invest resources and execute complementary actions towards agreed objectives to promote sustainable soil management for food security and nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation and the provision of ecosystem services as a contribution to the 2030 agenda, bearing in mind all possible R&D dimensions (i.e. close gaps in knowledge, generate or improve technologies to solve problems, and support human development). The research action under the GSP is to promote targeted soil research and development focusing on identified gaps, priorities and synergies with related productive, environmental and social development actions.


- The Initiatives would reinforce existing synergies and seek new synergies for generating practical impacts in terms of food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation with other initiative(s) and/or other organization(s) and thereby enhance knowledge towards achieving their aims and contributing to the "Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development" as well as the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, the Initiatives would benefit from sharing expertise and innovative technologies as well as research infrastructure.
- The commonality of membership among the initiatives yields mutual benefits to all the initiatives through the research conducted by the various members and their extended networks. Information exchange among the Initiatives in particular, greatly contributes to the impact of these initiatives on their various constituencies. In fact, most of GACSA members and their key researchers are also members of the GRA. GACSA, through its Knowledge Action Group (KAG), contributes to identifying the research priorities that may be of interest of the GRA. Meanwhile, the research output of the GRA also feeds into the knowledge base on which most KAG activities are built. In addition, it is expected that the 4/1000 Initiative will be supported by activities under the Integrative Research Group of the GRA, in particular the Soil Carbon Sequestration Network and the Grasslands Network, and other research activities on soils, including within GSP.
- Since the GSP is hosted by FAO, all research activities conducted under the GSP are done through, or in collaboration with, other initiatives and/or organizations with the FAO/GSP Secretariat as facilitating and/or coordinating agency through the relevant funding mechanisms. Implementation of research under the GSP is conducted through the Regional Soil Partnerships and as an FAO-based Partnership, the GSP is strongly supported at country-level. Therefore, the GSP also relies strongly on country-level implementation of research activities in collaboration with various relevant national, regional and global organizations.
- Seeking to inspire multi-disciplinary collaboration and to improve the quality and applicability of research, provide new avenues for future R&D programs, and draw attention to funding bodies. To achieve this, the initiatives need pro-active engagement with other organizations and countries to foster synergies by identifying common goals and how effective collaboration can be used to reach these common goals.
Key
Messages		 Participants expressed general support to this follow-up side event to follow the existing four initiatives, i.e. the GRA, the GACSA, the 4/1000 Initiatives and the GSP in a concerted manner, which acted as a “catalyst” for facilitating the development of these initiatives. And participants recognized, with a greater interest, the importance of continuing presentation of results and exchanges of views between these initiatives.
Materials Event Flyer (PDF・260KB)
Presentation 1(PDF・1,204KB)
Presentation 2(PDF・139KB)
Presentation 3(PDF・541KB)
Presentation 4(PDF・1,484KB)
Presentation 5(PDF・1,056KB)
Presentation 6(PDF・31KB)
Chair's Summary(PDF・74KB)
Photos
  • Thu 10 November 15:00-18:30
  • Thu 10 November 15:00-18:30
  • Thu 10 November 15:00-18:30
  • Thu 10 November 15:00-18:30
Reporters Norihito KANAMORI, International Research, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council Secretariat (AFFRC), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan (MAFF)
Keiichi SUGITA, Environment Policy Office, Policy Planning Division, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan (MAFF)