FAO and WMO signed an MoU to enhance cooperation on responding to climate variability and climate change.
FAO and World Food Programme issued a report titled ‘FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to Sri Lanka’.
FAO and Kyoto University convened an International Symposium on the Impact of Climate Change on Food and Agriculture.
22 June 2017: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) enhanced its collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Kyoto University, Japan, on responding to climate variability and climate change impacts on food security, among others.
On 19 June 2017 in Rome, Italy, FAO and WMO signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation on responding to climate change and variability, which “represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies, natural ecosystems and food security.” Under the partnership, FAO and WMO aim to: strengthen agro-meteorological services and make them more accessible to farmers and fishers; and improve global and region-specific monitoring for early warning and response to high-impact events such as droughts. [WMO Press Release]
The impact of climate change on food security was also in the spotlight in Asia. The issue was the focus of an FAO publication and event. FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) released a report titled ‘FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to Sri Lanka,’ which stresses the urgency of addressing the impacts of climate change on food. The report discusses how severe drought of 2016 and early 2017 impacted food consumption of households in affected areas, with about 900,000 people estimated as borderline food insecure. [FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to Sri Lanka] [FAO Press Release]
FAO and Kyoto University convened an International Symposium on the Impact of Climate Change on Food and Agriculture to mark the one year anniversary of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organizations and the 20th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. The Symposium took place at Kyoto University on 12 June 2017. Participants addressed: long-term strategic approaches and concrete forms of collaboration towards the reduction of food waste in Kyoto; efficient water allocation and cropping patterns in light of climate uncertainty; climate change impacts on tropical agriculture in Asia; and assessments of climate change impacts on crops using the FAO tool ‘MOdelling System for Agricultural Impacts of Climate Change’ (MOSAICC). [FAO Press Release] [Kyoto University Symposium Webpage]
The strengthened partnerships highlight the interlinkages among Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 (zero hunger) and 13 (climate action).