Foresight practitioners and researchers can learn from the past

How can historical insights improve foresight planning for agrifood systems transformation? That was the central question of an International Workshop, jointly organized by FAO and the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies (BrIAS), with the title “Re-imagining agrifood system transformations: enlarging and enriching time horizons”.

The event was moderated by Rathana Peou Norbert-Munns from the FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific. She is a second time BrIAS fellow, working on exactly this topic.

In his welcoming speech, director of the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels, Raschad Al-Khafaji, emphasized the need for academic research in relation to the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, as reflected in FAO Strategic Framework. “Looking at historical insights could bring us innovative solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow,” he concluded.

Historical insights were the theme of the interventions by BrIAS academic co-director and professor in history at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Nel De Mûelenaere, and BrIAS fellow Matthew Hannaford, who presented approaches that have the potential to strengthen evidence-based policymaking and lead to more resilient agrifood systems.

Foresight practitioners from both NGOs and academia shared their approaches and insights during the workshop. FAO Senior Economist and lead of the FAO Global Perspectives Studies Team, Lorenzo Bellù, presented FAO’s “The Future of Food and Agriculture” publication series.

Stefanos Fotiou, director of the FAO Office of SDGs and of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub concluded the workshop by updating the participants on the global efforts following the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. The UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment will take place in Rome, Italy, from 24 to 26 July 2023 to track progress towards the transformation of agrifood systems across the world. Fotiou invited all participants of the workshop to contribute to this important moment.

The workshop’s results will be published in a joint scientific paper and will contribute to the aforementioned UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment.

A few days later, on 27 April, Al-Khafaji talked at the closing event of the 2022-2023 BrIAS academic year.  “More than half of the world is currently left behind and poverty levels have increased far more than 4 years ago, with the hunger levels escalating back to levels in 2005,” said Al-Khafaji as he highlighted the urgent need to use science and technology to combat hunger and poverty.

Next academic year’s theme of BrIAS will be “Robotics and the SDGs”, with an emphasis on Artificial Intelligence in agriculture.

Further reading:

You can read FAO’s Science and Innovation Strategy here.

You can read FAO’s “Future of Food and Agriculture – Drivers and Triggers for Transformation” publication here.

You can read more about the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub here and the UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment here.

You can read more information on the special edition of the SDG progress report here and access the full report here.