Kyoto University and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) jointly held the International Symposium on the Impact of Climate Change on Food and Agriculture to mark the one year anniversary of the signing of their Memorandum of Understanding and the 20th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. The Symposium took place at Kyoto University on 12 June 2017.

The Symposium was attended by over 120 participants, including the Mayor of Kyoto, the Dean of Kyoto University, the Director of the Economics Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, high level FAO representatives and prominent Japanese scholars and researchers.

Dr. Marcela Villarreal, Director of Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development (OPC) delivered a presentation about the FAO Food Policy and Food Loss Reduction Strategy (FLA) in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. She introduced each country’s food waste initiatives and legislation and mentioned the importance of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, featuring the city of Kyoto as signatory.  Prominent scholars from Kyoto University presented long-term strategic approaches and concrete forms of collaboration toward the reduction of food waste in Kyoto.

Also discussed was efficient water allocation and cropping patterns under climate uncertainty, the impact of climate change on tropical agriculture in the Asian Region and assessments of the impact of climate change on crops using the FAO tool “MOSAICC”.

Leading scholars from Kyoto University highlighted the importance of working with FAO in advancing agricultural initiatives to combat climate change, while Misako Takahashi, Director of the Economics Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, spoke of expectations for future collaboration between Kyoto University and FAO.

The Symposium provided a good opportunity to promote the reduction of food waste, share experiences and innovative concepts in the context of climate change, exchange views on present and future collaboration between FAO and Kyoto University and discuss a future global-scale food event in the framework of the Milan Urban Food Policy.