Strategic Scientific Alliance on 'Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Adequate and Safe Food Provision'

The aim of the alliance is to carry out interdisciplinary research on the land, water and food nexus in China, to formulate coherent recommendations for adequate and safe food provision based on sustainable resource management, and to develop innovative methodolies that can be applied for examining similar problems in parts of the world. It builds on existing long-term relationships of research groups in Wageningen with Nanjing Agricultural University (Development Economics Group, since more than 20 years), Tsinghua University, Beijing (Environmental Policy Group), China Agricultural University, Beijing (Soil Quality Group), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang (Water Systems and Global Change Group).

Representatives from relevant ministries in China and from the industry (FrieslandCampina, Eurofins Agro Laboratories) will also take part in the alliance that will be funded for four years. A major expected output of the alliance is the creation of a Virtual Centre of Excellence of international repuation which will further the cooperation between social and natural scientists and other stakeholders in the governance of natural resources and environmental management of food systems in China and elsewhere in the world.