The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Science and Innovation Forum 2022 focused on highlighting the centrality of science, technology and innovation for agrifood systems transformation. The event encouraged a diversity of perspectives based on science, thereby facilitating rationalization and inclusiveness of debate.
Harnessing science, technology and innovation (STI) is key for leveraging emerging opportunities for reaching a world free from poverty, hunger and malnutrition. FAO is integrating STI to provide solutions that address the three dimensions of sustainability. To bring FAO’s initiatives into a coherent framework, and to facilitate the development of new initiatives, FAO developed its first-ever Science and Innovation Strategy that will help strengthen the use of science and innovation in FAO’s technical interventions and normative guidance, and serve as a key tool for the implementation of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31.
As part of the Science and Innovation Forum, Blue Food Assessment co-lead Beatrice Crona and Scientific Leadership Team member Shakuntala Thilsted joined a panel discussion about blue transformation.
Blue transformation is a vision that aims to satisfy the world’s growing nutritional needs by providing the legal, policy and technical framework to sustain growth while conserving aquatic ecosystems. Technology and science are key to this process: artificial intelligence, the use of drones, and blockchain technologies are already determining a dramatic change in aquatic food value chains. But how can they be harnessed to achieve a transformation that is long-lasting and sustainable?
Experts, resource partners and investors in the aquatic food sector gathered to discuss ideas, practices and solutions for leveraging science, technologies and innovation to make a genuine contribution to healthy nutrition, human well-being and poverty alleviation.