JIRCAS President Dr. IWANAGA Masa attended the 9th annual Council Meeting of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) held in Denpasar, Indonesia on October 6-7, 2019. The GRA is an international research network organized in 2011 in accordance with government agreements with the aim of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sector. As of December 2019, GRA consists of 61 participating countries. Japan became the first chair in Asia during 2017-2018, and Pres. Iwanaga led the activities of GRA and chaired the 7th GRA Board meeting held in Tsukuba in August 2017.

At the 9th GRA Council Meeting, the member countries, partner organizations and research groups reported their activities. In addition, the development of the GRA Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 and the reorganization of the GRA Flagship Projects were also discussed. The new Strategic Plan will be drafted for approval at the 2020 GRA Council meeting to be hosted by Australia as the in-coming chair.