FAO and Belgian Université Catholique de Louvain sign partnership to tackle climate change challenges


19/12/2016 - 

Building bridges between science and development to combat climate change and its impacts is at the heart of a new partnership agreement between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) that was signed at an official event held in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, on Monday, 19 December 2016.

 Mustapha Sinaceur, Director of  FAO’s Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium said the partnership was based on a “pre-existing, fruitful relationship between our two institutions” and that they shared a vision and common goals for enhancing institutional capacities to address global climate change mitigation and adaptation. “FAO and UCL will further share their knowledge and expertise to support students in becoming future decision-makers and practitioners for climate change adaptation. Jointly, our institutions will work to enrich graduate curricula and offer students real-life perspectives on the critical issues surrounding climate change,” said Mr. Sinaceur from FAO’s Brussels office.

 Mr. Vincent Blondel, Rector of UCL expressed his support for continued strong collaboration: “I am very happy to reinforce and expand on our existing close partnership with FAO,” he said at the official signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding.

 The partnership will focus on tackling climate change through development of statistics and monitoring related to transboundary plant pests and diseases, dryland forests and land degradation and restoration, and disaster impacts affecting agriculture and human health. This is the first such partnership that FAO has entered into with a Belgian university.