FAO Chief Scientist at STI Forum 2022 – World Food Forum side event 'youth-led actions for a better food future'

 

STI Forum 2022

World Food Forum side event 'Youth-led actions for a better food future'

Special Address by FAO, delivered by

FAO Chief Scientist, Ismahane Elouafi

Hello everyone,

As Rachel said, good morning, good afternoon, depending where you are. 

I am really honored to be with you today to celebrate youth in science and to highlight the importance of the role of youth in achieving a more just and sustainable food future.   

We all know we need a profound and systemic and a dramatic transformation of our agrifood systems if we are to provide healthy diets for over 800 million people who are hungry today, unfortunately, and for the additional 2 billion people that the world is estimated to have by 2050. So, the challenge is really big.

So, today, rather than using this time to talk about the many challenges that the world is facing – and I think that we all agree on them – and the uncertainty and anguish these challenges bring with them, especially to the generation that will inherit them – you guys – I would like to rather focus on the solutions. Indeed, today is all about celebrating the solutions that, thanks to the ingenuity of youth, will allow us to achieve, hopefully, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Agenda – the Global Development Agenda – in the remaining 8 years that we have left until 2030.  

Let me start by telling you about one activity that my office is working on, which may help young researchers in their endeavors in future. 

Harnessing science, technology, and innovation is key for leveraging emerging opportunities for reaching a world free from hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. FAO is integrating STI – Science, Technology and Innovation – 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 is developing its first-ever Science and Innovation Strategy that will help us strengthen the use of science and innovation in everything FAO does – in FAO’s technical interventions and normative guidance, and will serve as a key tool for the implementation of our Strategic Framework for the next decade. So, we have our Strategic Framework from 2022 to 2031, and the Science and Innovation Strategy that we are putting in place – that I have, really, the pleasure of leading – will be a really very important tool to implement the Strategic Framework, which is really an ambitions strategic framework.  

So, the Strategy – the Science and Innovation Strategy – covers all sectors and areas of agrifood systems, and that includes crop, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture, and it covers from natural resource management to production, to consumption, and includes, of course, food loss and waste. The Strategy is expected to be approved by the FAO Council in June 2022.

I believe the Strategy will support the activities of the FAO Youth Committee that created the World Food Forum last year, since this committee was born from the insight that transforming agrifood systems requires making radical changes. The World Food Forum is a powerful movement that aims to nurture, empower, and harness the ingenuity of young, great minds to be change agents we need badly today. And we are counting on you, all youth, young women and men, to drive this change. 

As a woman in science myself, what I know for sure is that we cannot rely on business as usual – we definitely need to rethink and fundamentally change how we operate and what we deliver, how we produce food and how do we consume food as well. 

We need to deliver innovative, science- and evidence-based solutions that are both actionable and sustainable in the long term. Above all, we need innovative solutions that will make possible that we have an  efficient and resilient agrifood system. 

And we need solutions that will sustain the lives, but also the livelihoods of people working in harmony with our planet. As one of the few women in science policy, I also know that we need to make sure that the voices of young women are equally heard and represented at every level.  

So, did you know that we estimate that less than 30 percent of the world's researchers are women? Imagine what we could achieve if this number went up to 50 percent? Or even higher!

We are convinced that a sustainable future is only possible when young women are given meaningful and equitable access to opportunities in science and research. And I think the key word in this sentence is really opportunities. So, we have to give the same number of opportunities to women as we do to men, and once the woman is given that opportunity, she has the freedom to move the way she wants.

And we start right here, right now, finding a way to bring into balance that outrageously low figure, by encouraging young women in science, all around the world to bring to the table their out-of-the-box solutions, that are making a difference to their communities, to join this grassroot movement of the World Food Forum. Because only together can we spark a true transformation in our agrifood systems, and ultimately, end world hunger and poverty once and that’s it – we completely stop this, really, massacre of hunger and malnutrition. 

So, you might be asking yourself, “How can I make the difference?” 

In 2022, the World Food Forum has decided to shed a special light on accessing healthy diets and addressing the climate crisis to transform agrifood systems. And they rely on you, young scientists, researchers and innovators, to help us achieve Healthy Diets and a Healthy Planet for all, leaving no one behind.

Let me highlight two initiatives that the World Food Forum is launching today, aiming to support, nurture, and scale youth initiatives in science and innovation around the world. 

The first initiative, today, is the official launch of the one-and-only World Food Forum research competition, the Transformative Research Challenge, or TRC. This International Open Call is addressed to young and youthful researchers who want to create a better food future. 

The process to participate is very simple. All you need to do is submit your two-page concept note for innovative research to help transform agrifood systems by the 1^st of June, 2022 on the World Food Forum website. The team will share now on the chat the link where you can apply, and be aware it’s in less than a month. 

I very much look forward to seeing your ideas at the TRC – the Transformative Research Challenge – at the Innovation Awards in October 2022. So, between the submission and October, we are going to select the winners, and I hope all the winners are with us today. 

The second initiative, today again, I am also honored to give a warm welcome to the very first World Food Forum Young Scientists Group. The main objective of the Young Scientists Group is to provide scientific evidence and technical knowledge to the various initiatives of the Forum, and to develop an annual World Food Forum Young Scientists report on specific policy issues of particular concern to youth, related to agrifood systems transformation.

So, please join me in welcoming the 21 women and men who have, after a thorough selection process, been selected to this very first cohort.

To conclude, I would like to invite you to be bold, invite you to brainstorm, and bring your solutions to the table by joining these calls for youth.

Let’s remember also that our agrifood systems are the most powerful levers to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth. Let’s transform together those systems – agrifood systems – to create a better future through a Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment, and a Better Life, leaving no one behind.

So, I’m counting on you youth to be bold and to come forward to give us really innovative solutions. And, by the way, innovative doesn’t mean new. It could be an old way of doing it, but that can make an impact. So, innovation is basically something that you could do that has a high impact that can be done in a short time. So, it is not only shiny and new – think about it, bring your out-of-the-box solutions, because it’s very much needed.

Thank you.