FAO welcomes EU moves towards more circular bioeconomy
News
Organization addresses conference on nexus of bioeconomy and food security
The start of 2023 has seen renewed enthusiasm at European Union (EU) level on the importance of bioeconomy as a driver for sustainable development. Recently, FAO participated at a conference on “Circular Bioeconomy: The pathway to an innovative, resource efficient and competitive Europe”, underlining how a circular bioeconomy approach could help transform agrifood systems while bolstering food security.
Background
Under the Swedish presidency of the EU Council, a number of bioeconomy events have already taken place in 2023. In its first session on 30 January, the EU Council of Agricultural Ministers discussed the way forward on the bioeconomy, following on from the release of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy Progress Report last year. FAO contributed to the consultations of the progress report, and FAO Director-General spoke about it during his high-level opening address to the EU Bioeconomy Conference in October 2022. Dr QU urged all partners to “strengthen and increase international cooperation in the bioeconomy field… to bring about the innovative and transformative changes that can improve the lives and livelihoods of all”.
FAO has identified bioeconomy for sustainable food and agriculture as one of 20 programme priority areas for the next decade under the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31. The Organization sees bioeconomy as a catalyst for transforming agrifood systems to become more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient. In particular, Dr QU has stressed that “innovation across agrifood systems is critical” if we are to achieve this objective.
EU interparliamentary conference
The latest FAO intervention on bioeconomy at EU level came at an interparliamentary conference organized by the Committee on Environment and Agriculture of the Swedish Riksdag on 20 February. Marta Gomez San Juan, FAO’s senior bioeconomy expert, gave a brief introduction to the FAO bioeconomy programme, while underlining the importance of a circular bioeconomy in achieving greater food security. An estimated 74 percent of the biomass produced globally is used in food and feed, thus managing biomass more efficiently and sustainably is vital if we are to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050.
Echoing the words of the FAO DG, Ms Gomez San Juan stressed the need to find innovative solutions. “FAO’s work seeks to increase use of bioeconomy science, technology and innovation to reduce risks related to food security and growing competition for biomass between food and non-food uses,” she said. As an example, she highlighted how “microbiome-based innovations are a growing area of work that considers different soils and biophysical conditions to deliver precision solutions”. FAO released a major report and executive summary in 2022 on the pivotal role the soil microbiome plays in ecosystem health, agroecosystems, and the climate system.
Living in the bioeconomy
The EU bioeconomy progress report was further discussed in the EU Living in the bioeconomy conference in Stockholm on 27-28 February, where key features of the FAO bioeconomy programme such as agrifood systems transformation, rural development and more responsible consumption and production patterns all featured prominently.
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28/02/2023