Bioeconomy for sustainable food and agriculture: a global opportunity

Making a transition to a sustainable bioeconomy can help us move toward a low-carbon future where we are less reliant on fuels and materials derived from non-renewable fossil resources and will play a critical role in meeting international commitments to urgently address climate change and biodiversity loss. It can also contribute to reaching many of the other development objectives and targets enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals and other multilateral agreements regarding food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, and inequality. FAO has much to offer in discussions on bioeconomy. Crop and livestock production, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry generate the biomass and biological resources that provide the foundation of a sustainable bioeconomy. The agricultural sectors will also play a central role in ensuring that biomass can be steadily circulated throughout the entire bioeconomy in ways that optimizes the use of biological resources. The complex and diverse agrifood systems that produce, process and distribute food, feed, fibres, fuel and other products that all of us depend on will clearly need to be on the top of the agenda in any discussions about how to move toward a sustainable bioeconomy. The bioeconomy should be seen as a motor for transforming agrifood systems so that they become more efficient and productive, equitable and resilient, and support ecosystem health. This paper provides a set of eight recommendations to guide global discussions on the bioeconomy.