Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs Session 4: Transformative technologies for SDGs

Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs

Session 4: Transformative technologies for SDGs

Remarks by the Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations,
Ms. Carla Mucavi

6 June 2016, 15:00-16:30, Conference Room 1, UN HQ,

 

 

Thank you for giving me the floor. I would like to thank the panellists for their presentations.

As a member of the UN Inter-Agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation, FAO is honoured to be part of this first Multi-stakeholder Forum.

I would like to briefly share two examples of how science, technology and innovation are already supporting sustainable development in agriculture and natural resources management.

Through a partnership between FAO and the Grameen Foundation, farmers in Uganda are using smartphones to access information specifically tailored to family farmers on agricultural technologies and practices, animal and crop production, food prices, weather conditions and more. Technology also allows them to share their knowledge with other farmers. 

This is an example of how technology can be used at the community level to improve farmers’ production; connect them to markets, help them cope with different weather conditions, and promote knowledge exchange.

In another example, at COP 21 in Paris, FAO and Google launched a strategic partnership on remote sensing.

One of the results of this partnership is the integration of Google Earth to environmental monitoring instruments such as the Open Foris Initiative. This is a set of open-source software tools that facilitates flexible and efficient data collection, analysis and reporting.

One benefit of this partnership is that, now, forest mapping exercises that could take weeks or months can be done in a few hours by trained national experts.

In this case, we are using technology to combat climate change, monitor deforestation and the depletion of natural resources, produce national forest inventories, biodiversity assessments, and measure land-use change.

FAO is also using Google Earth Engine to improve forecasts and control of desert locust outbreaks.

These examples are both transformative and scalable. But for science, technology and innovation to reach their full potential, certain elements need to be in place.

One of the main ones is that science, technology and innovation needs to be adaptable to the specific needs of different communities. It needs to build from local systems and from the knowledge that exists in local communities. It is also essential to build partnerships with communities, civil society, private sector, governments and other actors.

FAO is developing a Digital Strategy that takes into account these factors and to make these connections more systematic in our work, as announced by FAO´s Director-General at the meeting of the G-20 Ministers of Agriculture, last week in China.

We look forward to working with you in this effort.

Thank you for your attention.