The event addressed the social and environmental trade-offs and challenges posed by climate change in the area of agriculture
The inaugural Open Symposium, hosted by the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College, and UPL, has recently outlined a series of policy positions, technological interventions, and collaboration opportunities that can contribute to global efforts to reshape the role of food systems in the face of climate change.
Ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit and COP26 – the inaugural ‘Food Future in a Changing Climate’ OpenAg Symposium took place at the University of Oxford. The event united a select group of leading academics, policymakers, technology investors, industry pioneers, and NGO innovators from across the globe to address the social and environmental trade-offs and challenges posed by climate change in the area of agriculture.
The Open Symposium opened with an introduction by Jan Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Somerville’s Principal, and by Her Excellency the High Commissioner of India to the UK, Gaitri Issar Kumar. The keynote was led by Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School and former Chair of the Science Advisory Council to the UK.
Jai Shroff, Global CEO, UPL, said: “At UPL, we take a wholly optimistic view of the opportunity that exists for farms and farmers to nourish the planet while feeding the population. This transformation will not be easy, but the discussions we have heard at this inaugural Open Symposium show that the will and the means exist to meet this challenge if we continue to work together.”
