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The 9th International Students Summit on Food,
Statement |
The contemporary world is facing a crisis of sustainability, and we see it as tremendously important to draw together the wisdom and vitality of youth, the torchbearers of the future of mankind. There are especially wide ranging missions for agricultural students, as agricultural science plays a key role in the solution of fundamental problems in food production and safety, environmental conservation, energy, and human health. The system of food production and consumption is without doubt closely related to the condition of the natural environment, the stage of economic development, and food culture in each country, and their patterns and problems reflect regional characteristics. It is thus important to understand how agriculture and food systems should be organized and maintained in each society. In November 2001, Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA) organized the “International Students Summit on Food, Agriculture and Environment in the New Century” to provide students from our global partner universities as well as international and Japanese students at TUA with an opportunity to gather and exchange views and ideas on global food, agricultural and environmental issues, and also to discuss their own roles in sustainable development. The outcomes of their discussions were announced as the “Tokyo Declaration,” which was taken up and published in one of the national newspapers in Japan. Since then, the International Students Summit has been held once a year. This meeting has been continued until today with such achievements as the adoption of the Action Plan in 2002 and the establishment of the International Students Forum (ISF) in 2002. This endeavor was well acknowledged by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which adopted TUA as one of the leading universities under the special education support program for 2003-2006. The Ninth International Students Summit will be held on 8-9 October 2009 at the TUA Setagaya Campus. The sub-theme for this summit is “Creative Solutions employed by Nations in response to the Global Food, Energy and Environmental Crisis” the initial idea of which was adopted at the 2008 ISS, and students are expected to understand the role of and actually promote sustainable agriculture for the younger generation of the respective countries and the world as a whole. It is hoped that students from the participating universities will direct their studies and activities to these issues as the theme of the ISF for 2009.
The ISS 2009 will have the following sessions.
Throughout the sessions, participants are expected to deliver outcomes of their studies on a specific issue and discuss the roles and functions of students themselves in creating solutions to the global food, energy and environmental crisis. 8 October, 2009 |
| COPYRIGHTS (C) 2009 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SUMMIT TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |