FOSC ERA-NET Cofund on Food Systems and Climate

The ambition of FOSC is to implement a range of joint activities to contribute to the creation of a strong and effective trans-national research and innovation network between Europe, Africa, and Latin America. FOSC aims as well to contribute to the coordination and synergism between national and international research programmes that are relevant to food security under climate change. The challenge of achieving food and nutrition security within the context of sustainable food systems calls for increased investment and collaboration. It is aspired that the partnership will increase investments in R&D&I through a coordinated regional mechanism aimed at reducing fragmentation.

FOSC is supported by the European Commission and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 862555.

Involvement of WUR in FOSC 

Wageningen Research – Corporate Strategy & Accounts is consortium partner in FOSC and is in charge of the Work Package Communication, Exploitation and Dissemination of results. This includes the management of the FOSC Communications office and a wide variety of activities such as the (co-) organization of the Projects Kick-off workshop and Projects Final workshop, the preparation of flyers, brochures, newsletter, the website and active communication via various social media channels, as well as providing guidance and support to the projects for outreach and valorisation. Wageningen Research is also task leader and contributor to the Work Package Additional activities. This includes a stakeholder mapping, project cluster activities, and the exploration of collaborative opportunities with other organizations such as SUSFOOD ERA-NET, FACCE – JPI, LEAP4FNSSA, FIT4FOOD, SCAR working group Food Systems,  and the partnership on Safe and Sustainable Food Systems.  

WUR researchers are also contributing as project partner to two of the FOSC projects from the 2019 Call: BLUE-CYCLING, Integrated aquaculture and agriculture, by Biometris, and CRRISP, Climate Resilient Innovations in Potato, by chair group - Knowledge Technology and Innovation.

FOSC 2019 co-funded call

The first major activity of FOSC is the trans-continental call in the field of food systems and climate. The call for proposals was launched in 2019 and has a funding budget of approximately 16 million euros. The budget is allocated by funders from 11 European countries, 8 African countries and 2 Latin American countries and is supported with EC co-funding. The aim of the call is to support scientifically excellent, trans-continental R&D&I projects that contribute to the knowledge base on food systems and climate changes.

Seventeen research projects were selected through a peer review evaluation process:

• SALAD - Saline Agriculture as a Strategy to Adapt to Climate Change (Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands)
• BLUE-CYCLING - Integrated aquaculture and agriculture for resource-efficient food production (Germany, Honduras, Kenya, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, United Kingdom + Brazil)
• URBANFOSC - Urban Food Resilience under Climate Change Challenges (Algeria, France, Kenya, South Africa, the Netherlands)
• SAFOODS - Strengthening African Food Systems in the face of climate change and food insecurity (France, Ivory Coast, Senegal, United Kingdom)
• TRUSTFARM - Towards Resilient and sUStainable integrated agro-ecosystems Through appropriate climate-smart FARMing practices (Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Senegal)
• CLIMAQUA - Establishing an innovative and transnational feed production approach for reduced climate impact of the aquaculture sector and future food supply (Germany, Kenya, Norway, South Africa)
• ThermoK - Thermophilic breakdown of keratin-laden biomass waste (France, Kenya, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom)
• CHIAM - Integrated chia and Oyster mushroom system for Sustainable food value chain in Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, Morocco)
• SECUREFOOD2050 - Improving resilience and food security in 2050 climate through soilless precise agricultural techniques and irrigation with wastewater properly treated by innovative technologies to ensure food safety (Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, Italy, Morocco + 7 industrial partners)
• CRRIsP - Climate Resilient and Responsible Innovations in Potato (Germany, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, South Africa)
• BICEPS - Biochar Integration in Small-Holder Cropping Systems –Economy, Food Product Value Chains, Climate Change Resilience and Soil Fertility (Kenya, Norway, South Africa, Sweden)
• NutriGreen - Promoting Green Nutrition for the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Germany, Senegal, Sweden)
• C4C - CropsForChange; Tackling the global warming effects in crops (Algeria, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey)
• CREATE - Cross-Border Climate Vulnerabilities and Remote Impacts of Food Systems of the EU, Turkey and Africa: Trade, Climate Risk and Adaptation (Egypt, Morocco, the Netherlands, Turkey)
• PHEALING - Post Harvest losses mitigation by improved plant hEALING (Belgium, Germany, Kenya, South Africa)
• BIO-BELIEF - BIOfortification of common Bean to promote heaLthy dIEt and Food security in a context of climatic variation (France, Italy, Kenya, South Africa + Brazil)
• Sus-Agri-CC - Innovative biofertilizers boosting yield of cereals and horticultural crops under global climate change: Toward Sustainability of Agricultural systems against the Climate Change in arid zones (Algeria, France, Germany, Morocco, Turkey + Tunisia, Japan and Mexico)

Read more about these projects on the FOSC website.