The past, present and future of food, climate and sustainability

During the closing event of the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies (BrIAS) Spring Program 2022 on The Past, Present and Future of Food, Climate and Sustainability, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels Raschad Al-Khafaji presented FAO’s forward-looking Strategic Framework 2022-2031, its relationship with the academic institutions in Belgium and the role of the FAO Liaison Office in achieving the mandate of the Organization. 

During his intervention, Al-Khafaji introduced some of FAO’s key initiatives, including FAO’s Strategy on Biodiversity, FAO’s Strategy on Climate and the Organization’s Strategy on Science and Innovation, to be presented to the FAO Council in June. He also outlined FAO’s Flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative – an evidence-based country-led and country-owned initiative to accelerate agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development – as well as FAO’s Green Cities and 1 000 Digital Villages initiatives. 

His intervention was followed by a presentation from Rathana Peou Norbert Munns, a BrIAS fellow working at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. She introduced her work on climate foresight and discussed how drawing lessons from the past and making predictions for the future can (and should) be used to improve decision-making regarding agrifood systems. She encouraged strategic partnerships in the framework of the United Nations Food System Coordination Hub and highlighted the urgent need to translate science into action.

The Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies was co-founded in 2018 by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The institute brings together a range of experts, drawn from diverse academic fields and countries, to discuss and exchange views on a variety of topics.  

Partnerships with academia and research institutions enhance FAO's ability to eliminate hunger and malnutrition and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). FAO actively collaborates with higher education and research institutions to mobilize knowledge and innovation, strengthen capacities, provide evidence-based solutions to policy processes, and share its own experience from the ground with the academic community.  

In Belgium, FAO has established official partnerships with the Université Catholique de Louvain and the Université de Liège. In addition, the Organization is planning to sign a partnership agreement with the University of Ghent later this year. Such alliances enable students to gain experience as FAO trainees and allow for collaboration in research programmes and scientific publications, as well as participation in FAO-led multistakeholder initiatives.

FAO is looking forward to further expanding its collaboration with academic institutions in Belgium to leverage the power of science, innovation and knowledge exchange on the path towards achieving the SDGs.  

You can read more about FAO’s work with academic institutions here.