FAO and Université Laval renew their commitment to a food-secure future


Partnership will continue work on agroforestry and climate change adaptation and mitigation

28/09/2020 - 

Building on a history of successful collaboration, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Université Laval have renewed their partnership for another three years. The joint work together will continue to advance progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on the areas of agroforestry, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and food security and nutrition.

Based in Quebec City, Université Laval is one of Canada’s largest universities and a leader in research and innovation. The university’s contribution to the field of sustainable development has also been widely recognized; it is ranked 4th in the world for climate action measures by the Times Higher Education Supplement and received a second gold rating from the international Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) programme for more than 10 years of outstanding commitment to the field.

Since partnering in 2017, FAO and Université Laval have developed a series of agroforestry knowledge products which support policy development and project implementation, including publications on Agroforestry for Landscape Restoration and Agroforestry and Tenure, and have worked to improve the agroforestry module of the Ex-Ante Carbon balance Tool (EX-ACT), which provides estimates of the impact of agriculture and forestry development projects, programmes and policies on the world’s carbon balance.

In Senegal, Université Laval joined the government of Quebec and FAO for the Strengthening Agricultural Adaptation (SAGA) project, which aims to improve food security by enhancing climate change adaptation planning capacities. The university helped to train qualified professionals in Senegal on climate change adaptation, with a focus on agroforestry and water management, including how to optimize water use to reduce the vulnerability of the food production sector of the Senegal river basin.

Following its success in Senegal, the SAGA project will now be extended into Haiti, where it will replicate the methodology used in Senegal to model water resources and assess climate change impacts, and apply these to the Artibonite river – Haiti’s biggest river basin. In addition, the project aims to develop a practical climate change adaptation planning guide for the agriculture sectors in Haiti, based on participatory assessments, and to provide support to the government in strengthening climate change adaptation planning.

Going forward, FAO and Université Laval will continue their commitment to train the next generation of climate change professionals, in order to guarantee a food secure future, and will provide support to governments and policy-makers to overcome new global challenges brought on by climate change, including through combating desertification. As part of Université Laval’s programme Initiatives for the Future and in collaboration with FAO, other international organizations and local partners, a new graduate programme in food security will provide interdisciplinary training on how to improve food security in a chosen region, using an interactive, hands-on approach.

 

Read more about the collaboration: Enhancing knowledge on climate change mitigation and adaptation for food security and nutrition.