G77+China Summit General Debate “Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation”

G77+China Summit 

General Debate 

“Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation” 

Statement delivered on behalf of

Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General,

By

Mr Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General/FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean 

Havana, 15 September 2023

 

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

The world, and especially the countries of the G77+ China, are at a critical point. We are falling behind in our efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

 

At this rate, we will not achieve our collective objectives set out in the 2030 Agenda, nor the SDG targets.

 

Globally, 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, and more than 3.1 billion people were unable to afford a healthy diet.

 

The impacts of the climate crisis like droughts and floods are severely affecting agriculture and food security.

 

Agriculture continues to absorb 26 percent of the damage and loss brought on by these extreme weather disasters.

 

Our agrifood systems are under tremendous pressure to produce more to meet growing demands for food, while minimizing impacts on the environment.

 

Our agrifood systems need to be urgently transformed to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

 

This transformation will rely on innovative applications of science and technology.

 

The new FAO Science and Innovation Strategy is a key tool to support the delivery of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 and focuses on three main Pillars:

 

One: Strengthening science and evidence-based decision-making;

Two: Supporting innovation and technology at regional and country level; and

Three: Serving Members better by reinforcing FAO’s capacities.

 

In addition, two key enablers are mainstreamed across the three pillars: transformative partnerships, and innovative funding and financing.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Science and innovation are game changers, but knowledge alone does not drive change - transformative governance and strengthening the science-policy-society interface are critical for success.

 

The adoption of technologies and innovations at scale for effective development require three key elements:

 

First: Coherent and integrated agricultural innovation systems with national agricultural research and extension systems;

Second: Investments in agricultural research for development; and

Third: Participatory approaches for knowledge sharing and transfer.

 

Science, technology and innovation in agrifood systems cuts across all dimensions of the production cycle along the entire value chain.

 

And it includes a range of technologies and innovations and sustainable agricultural approaches, including biotechnologies, digital technologies and renewable energy technologies, among others.

 

Advances in biotechnologies have wide-ranging uses and can be used, for example, for the genetic improvement of plants and animals to increase yield, improved soil health, and for rapid diagnosis of diseases and development of vaccines.

 

Gene editing technologies represent advances in genetics for plant and animal breeding.

 

Remote sensing and satellite information, as well as drones, offer enormous opportunities to collect real-time data and for monitoring weather, crops, pests and diseases, and soil conditions, to provide governments, farmers and other value chain actors with real-time alerts for effective and informed decision-making for improved adaptation and resilience to threats and crisis.

 

Technologies such as automated irrigation systems, agricultural robots and digital technologies for financial inclusion further contribute to mitigating and overcoming development challenges.

 

FAO is making considerable investments in science, technology and innovation to ensure the effective transformations to global agrifood systems.

 

For example, FAO’s 1000 Digital Village Initiative is aimed at converting villages around the world into digital hubs to support the acceleration of rural transformation.

 

The FAO Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform is a digital public good that provides advanced information on nearly a dozen domains, including food security, crops, soil, water, climate, fisheries, livestock and forests.

 

Digital tools developed by FAO are being adopted to improve early warning, risk forecasting, early detection, biosecurity and mitigation measures for health threats within the framework of the One Health approach.

 

The promising future of digital technologies will multiply with increasing breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, among others, resulting in lower costs and increased capacity in data applications.

 

But to ensure the inclusiveness of digitalization, we must create suitable environments for agrifood value chain actors and related service providers.

 

Science, Technology and Innovation can be a powerful engine to end hunger and malnutrition, as well as boost climate action, but we must take into account that countries have diverse challenges, needs and capacities related to, among others, infrastructure, levels of education and technical capacities.

 

Low-and-middle-income countries, in particular, have a gap between existing technologies and innovations and their accessibility and uptake at local level.

 

Therefore, the transformation must be implemented in a way that avoids the risk of widening the ‘technology divide’ between economies and sectors, and between those with different levels of capacity to adopt innovations.

 

To fully leverage the potential of Science, Technology and Innovation, especially in rural areas, efforts must focus on improving technological infrastructure, levels of literacy and skills, access to services, reducing costs of technology, and strengthening regulatory frameworks to ensure that no one is left behind.

 

Let me conclude by inviting you to participate in the FAO Science and Innovation Forum 2023 from 16 to 20 October at FAO headquarters in Rome, under the umbrella of the World Food Forum flagship event.

 

This year’s theme is “Science and Innovation for Climate Action” to highlight the centrality of Science, Technology, and Innovation for agrifood systems transformation for the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

 

The G77+China continues to play a critical role in ensuring that the voice of the developing countries remains at the forefront of global governance processes, and to continue to deliver coherent and cohesive support to those most in need.

 

South-South and Triangular Cooperation, as well as effective partnerships with all stakeholders, continues to be the key to overcome development challenges, and Science, Technology and Innovation holds the power to unlock our collective potential.

 

Thank you.