[Workshop]

The 3rd meeting ran from 7th to the 10th of October 2019 and started in Kyoto.
The Kyoto part of the meeting was opened by Mr. WADA (FNCA Coordinator for Japan) and Dr. NAGAI (Project Leader of Japan).

The meeting started by giving all countries the opportunity to present the status of the research and progress against their national project plans. China was unavailable for this meeting, due to visa requirements. Kazakhstan and Mongolia gave general overviews of their countries and a more detailed project plan developed during the week.

After the country presentations there were discussions about progress in general, dependencies on equipment, analysis and facilities in other countries. An inventory was made by each country about the type and level of support needed to progress further. An agreement was reached about plans, level of support and sharing of information. We also discussed the possibility of a new FNCA Environmental Change / food provenance & security project and countries were asked to give a brief overview of their current activities and or interest in the topics. This will be further developed during the year and indicated to the FNCA coordinators meeting in early 2020.

On Wednesday the group travelled to Tsuruga for the next section of the meeting. In Tsuruga on Thursday 10th October, a public seminar series was organised at the Wakasa Wan Energy Centre. Representatives from Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia gave an overview of the application of nuclear techniques to Climate Change studies.

After the lunch break the group moved to the Fukui prefectural Varve Museum, near famous Suigetsu Lake. The group received a special welcome and tour of the new museum from lead researcher Professor NAKAGAWA Takeshi.

[Discussion]

A couple of discussion were held during the Kyoto meeting with regard to the initiation of climate projects in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. After a lengthy discussion and negotiation between countries, it was decided that both countries will set up a small pilot study on soil organic carbon. Both countries will receive the protocols for fieldwork and sampling (see plans below for sharing instructions) from Japan, as well as technical assistance and analysis of samples for stable isotopes and radiocarbon. Both national projects are pilot studies and do not involve a large number of samples to be analysed (initially). It was agreed to identify field sites as soon as possible and provide the samples to Japan, in time for reporting at the next FNCA project meeting.

There was a good discussion about information sharing between countries. The following topics will be shared with the group in the form of PDF protocols, instructions and or lists:

• Sampling guidelines - for soil sampling as well as sampling archives of climate change (Japan and Australia to deliver before end of 2019).
• Sample preparation and analysis - (Japan: Radiocarbon, stable isotopes and carbon analysis, Australia: Microfossil slide preparation, XRF sample preparation) (Japan and Australia to deliver before end of 2019).
• Open access - List of open access software, satellite imaging and imaging analysis software, etc. All countries to contribute by end of 2019 (to be shared early 2020).
• Data interpretation - A part of the final meeting in the Philippines (October 2020) will be dedicated to data interpretation. Suitable lead scientists will be ask to demonstrate step by step the scientific method used to move from data collection to data interpretation and final conclusions (to be announced early 2020).

[Plans]

Plans are underway to formulate a draft plan for a new project to be submitted to FNCA for consideration beyond 2020. A new project would include Environmental Change, Impacts and Food Security.