JIRCAS and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management of the Department of Agriculture, Philippines, Sign Comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Climate Change Measures
―Promoting the Realization of Resource-Circulating Agriculture in Tropical Islands―

On August 9, 2024 (Friday), JIRCAS and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) of the Department of Agriculture, Philippines, signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the BSWM headquarters in Quezon City, Republic of the Philippines.

This agreement aims to enhance agricultural resilience to climate change and develop and implement environmentally harmonious, resource-circulating agricultural technologies.

Main Areas of Collaboration:

1. Soil carbon sequestration technology
2. Soil erosion mitigation technology
3. River water quality conservation technology

These technologies are developed considering the unique characteristics of the Philippines, a tropical island region vulnerable to extreme weather conditions.

The research outcomes for soil carbon sequestration technology are particularly anticipated to follow the JCM (Joint Crediting Mechanism) project on reducing methane emissions from paddy fields in the Philippines, with the methodology proposal announced on June 28, 2024.

JIRCAS in collaboration with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) of the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines in Negros Island and the Tropical Agriculture Research Front in Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, has been conducting research and development on enhancing carbon sequestration in various soil types, reducing environmental impacts on farmland, mitigating soil erosion, and investigating hydrology and water quality in rivers. Through this collaboration with BSWM, it will be possible to extend these insights to various agricultural lands in the Philippines. This partnership is expected to accelerate the development and dissemination of climate change mitigation technologies, significantly contributing to sustainable agricultural development not only in the Philippines but also in other tropical island nations and in Japan's Nansei (Southwestern) Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

The MOU signing ceremony was attended by the President of JIRCAS, the Director of BSWM, an official from the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, the Assistant Secretary of the Philippine Department of Agriculture, and the SRA Administrator. They delivered congratulatory addresses and expressed their expectations for the project, affirming that stakeholders from both countries would collaborate to achieve the research outcomes and their societal implementation.

• JIRCAS President: KOYAMA Osamu
  Research Promotion Leader:
  • Program Director: HAYASHI Keiichi
• Research Staff:
  • ANZAI Toshihiko (Tropical Agriculture Research Front)
  • IZUMI Taro (Rural Development Division)
• Press Coordinator:
  • OMORI Keisuke (Head, Information and Public Relations Office)
    Press e-mail: koho-jircas@ml.affrc.go.jp

Photos from the signing ceremony