One Country One Product in Asia

Hey, good morning uh good afternoon everyone. Distinguished speakers, esteemed colleague, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Assean University Network for Agriculture and Food Security, the Asian University Network and University Putra Malaysia. It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to today's session of the FAO technical lecture series 2026. We are delighted to have participants joining us from universities, research institutions, government agencies, industry and international organizations across Asia and beyond. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today. And then before we begin, I would like to share a few housekeeping announcements. Uh number one, the this webinar is being recorded. The recording will be made available after the session and the access link has been shared in the zoom chat box and we encourage you to save the link for future reference. And throughout the lecture, kindly keep your microphone muted to ensure the best audio quality to everyone. And we encourage you to submit your questions at any time using the Zoom Q&A function. Following the presentation, I will facilitate the question and answer session and post as many questions as time permits. Right. And should you experience any technical difficulties during this uh webinar, please contact us uh as the organizing committee uh via the zoom chat. Once again, thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoy today's session. Right. Okay. So, good afternoon and distinguish uh the speaker distinguished speakers, colleagues and friends. Uh it is a pleasure to welcome you to the seven of the FAO technical lecture series 2026 on behalf of the organizer food uh and agriculture organization of the United Nations the university uh network for agriculture and food security these university network and university. Thank you for joining us today. As we continue this lecture series, we hope that each session uh provides new perspectives and practical knowledge to support your research and professional development. And uh just a bit introduction for today's lecture. Um let me uh give you some preamble of the session. Transforming agri food system requires innovative approaches that balance economic development, environmental sustainability as well as social well-being. Right? And the concept of the bioeconomy has emerged as an important strategy for creating value from biological resources while reducing waste, promoting circularity as well as supporting climate resilience. And today's lecture explores how sustainable bioeconomic initiatives are helping transform agro food systems particularly through the FAO's work across the Asia-Pacific region. Right. So uh our first speaker today is Miss Marti, bioeconomic and sustainability specialist at FAO. And Miss Solari has worked extensively on international environmental law and sustainable development. And she currently supports FAO's global work on bioeconomy uh bringing uh together policy sustainability as well as innovation to advance a growth food system transformation. And joining her we also have Miss Martha Gomez, senior bioeconomy expert at at FAO with a background in agricultural engineering and biosystems. Miss Gomez has spent many years supporting FO's global bio economy program helping countries integrate by economy principles into sustainable food and agriculture policies and together they bring uh I would say extensive international experience in promoting sustainable circular and climate resilient agri food system. Ladies and gentlemen, uh please join me in welcoming Miss Ma Solari and Miss Marta Gomez. Right. So the session is yours now. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Uh it's it's really a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much for the invitation. Uh let me share my screen with the presentation. Sorry, just one second. Uh, sorry. Okay. Okay. Let me start from the [clears throat] beginning. Oh, why is it? Sorry. I'm really with it. Sorry. Okay. Is it? So, okay. [music] Uh, my name is Marta. I'm I'm from Italy. Uh, I have um I'm graduating in law here in Italy. Then I um did a master in international environmental law in Scotland. And then um now I'm doing a PhD in in bio economy both from a legal perspective and at the same time I started working uh with with FAO actually I started in FAO as a fellow because FAO has um as a program that is a it's a fellowship program so for um students PhD students and uh researchers uh to you know uh in to for them to be involved in started be involved in FAO and that's how I started. I also spent um six months in the regional office for Asia in the Pacific uh in Bangkok, Thailand. uh during this uh during this program and uh when this the program finished I came back to Italy to FAU headquarters in Rome and I started as a as a sustainability and by economy specialist uh in headquarter. Um I so I I leave the floor to my colleague Marta to introduce herself as well. >> Thank you. Hello everyone. I'm Marta Gomez. I'm um a major in agriculture and in engineering. So I guess the mix of both was was bioeconomy and that's how I started. Um I started as an intern in FAO. Um we are both for the from the division of environment climate change diversity and environment environment team. So so that's where I started and and and I stayed as bioconomy started growing and growing as we will explain later uh in our presentation. Thank you Marta. >> Thank you Marta. So I will start with our presentation again. Thank you very much. It's an honor to be here and we really hope uh we'll be able to explain you know to better explain what uh by economy is give some examples and of course we we really look forward um to the the Q&A session. Um so first of all why by economy matters uh why this topic is so hot right now this is a really um like it's a global um globally speaking it's a it's the momentum of bio economy right now and these are the reasons. So first of all um bio economy can help to uh reduce our impact on the natural resources. So in we can use uh thanks to bio economy we can use biological resources more efficiently and more sustainably. But uh also bio economy can help us take pollution because um bio economy can turn help us to turn waste or what we consider waste into byproducts. Uh that means into valuable products you know new new generation let's say of products. Uh this way bio economy uh can also support us to make our food system more more resilient. Um but um bio economy also means more green jobs in many different sectors and in particular more opportunities for youth in in um you know in green jobs. And last and more I would say also most important is that by economy can help us facing the um what are the main and uh biggest challenges of our of our time. Uh it means uh climate change um food insecurity uh pollution clim biodiversity sorry bio economy can really help us to tackle this um these challenges. uh I put here some examples of what bio economy is because bio economy uh you know it's a it's a really abstract uh concept but uh it's in our day lives because uh thanks to bio economy we can uh produce for example sustainable textile uh building materials we can uh it's also in our cosmetics for example um it can help us uh in order again to take pollution Thanks to biop pesticide, bio fertilizer and bio inputs in general. This is a really hot topic right now. Um but with thanks to bioeconomy we can produce bioplastics or uh in energy and the energy um um well in matter we can produce biogas and bofuels. So there are many uh bio economy is in our daily life. Basically what we uh do on bio economy as FAO. So FAO was the first UN entity to elevate by economy to a strategic corporate priority almost uh more than 10 years ago actually. And there is not uh a common uh commonly wide accepted uh concept like what bio economy is the definition of bio economy. But FAO uh used the bio we use the bio economy um definition that the global bio economy summit adopted back in 2020. uh that is um a sustainable bio economy that balances economic value, social welfare, food security and nutrition with environmental sustain sustainability uh promoted through formulation and implementation of coherent evidence-based policies and practices in micro and macro environments using technological organizational and social innovations. So this is our working definition of bio economy and um FAO um basically um included by economy in in its 20 program priority areas in 2022 uh especially under the better environment pillar and uh in 2026 so this year released the medium-term plan for 2026 2029 and we sharpened by economy uh a bit um including four pillars or priorities there are policy coherence partnerships by innovations on the ground and data information and knowledge this in order to help us shape you know the our work on bio economy so the first uh sorry but first I would like to leave the floor to my colleague Marta because Marta when when everything started Marta was here so I would like to ask her to guide us through this timeline of of bio economy in FAU. >> Okay. So in 2012 more or less is where the most countries started doing a bioconomy strategy a comprehensive document or policy on on the bioeconomy starting shaping their own definitions um and sectors included etc. So in the global forum for food and agriculture um in 2015 so a couple of years after this first movement I guess of policies um in Berlin uh every year there is this conference um it was dedicated to the bioeconomy. So these uh pioneer countries I guess came and and started showing uh what they were doing and this is a conference that where ministers of agriculture is ministerial level um attend at the end and then they make a communicate taken from the technical uh I guess discussions the days the days before and then they make a a communicate. So this um 2015 communicate was all about bioeconomy and and positioning the the concept and what needed to be done etc. And one of the main points because they were ministers of agriculture h was the the competition with food security the the issues with with um land use and and biomass use etc. Um because with the bio economy biomass is more used better used as well but can also be increase some competition between uses food non-f food bio energy and others. So they to to come into this arena I guess and especially on this point of food security and sustainability on the bio economy. So yeah, we we started and uh we received kind fun finding from the government of Germany and and developed a small project where um we put together a group of experts from these pioneer countries and others especially from governments and developed 10 principles and 24 criteria on sustainable bioeconomy. So how to develop bioeconomy yes but in a sustainable way that doesn't compete compete with food security and that was in 2016 more or less when it was finalized and since then is it has been our main structure or framework for all the work we do the analysis or the working countries that I will explain later etc. So these 10 principles and 24 criteria we can share the link later is I guess our basis. And then in 2017 we continued with with another German project that supported by economy strategies development because yeah in 2012 there were many again another wave in 2015 and others. Yeah, bio economy is something for the global south for for the countries that have biomass or biological resources or also the knowledge to to use their local plants maybe or or yeah resources. So well bio economy is for everyone but but especially those that maybe have the knowledge uh they don't know how to maybe tap into it or valorize it. So um we we developed this program to support by economic strategies in in the global south and and that's it and then in 2021 is is what Marta mentioned the the new framework was developed in FAO by our members and and senior management and there are four pillars I believe you are learning about all of them and today is about better environment and and they created some priorities and one was bioeconomy so out of out of the blue somehow not out out of the blue because many countries were working on it. But um for for FAO was a was a surprise or all our work on the principles and criteria and the strategies was uh valorized itself I guess by countries and they made um by economy as a priority. So I guess the the organization as a whole was going towards that goal and and and developing projects to to support the bio economy in in many other angles. So our team passed from developing these technical materials to also doing it but mostly coordinating other other divisions work. Uh FAO has 130 offices more or less so regional offices, country offices all our colleagues there are experts um coordinating between them etc. And that's called a PPA prime priority area and it goes until 2031. So we still have some years to to finish this I guess portfolio of projects. And after that also within Rome, our embassies I guess and the the the policy makers and the discussions in Rome uh took place also for the bioeconomy and and there are now many resolutions, mandates in different angles that um at higher policy level within embass embassies here in Rome were were developed and 2025 and right Now our main um work on the technical side not the coordination side was on supporting the G20 initiative on bioeconomy that took um off in 2024 but um was further developed in 2025. H this initiative from the G20 developed 10 principles for the bio economy. So our 20 10 principles and 24 criteria for sustainable bioeconomy were used and and supported this other framework and now uh we use both frameworks. Um ours is a bit more granular. So it's perfect because we can h cover more ground and in 2025 at the COP 13 um the the climate conference of the parties um in in Brazil um bioeconomy challenge was launched and that's what we also do a lot now on on metrics indicators and more concrete measurement of of the bioeconomy. Over to Marta. >> Thank you Mart. So what are FEO priorities on the bio economy? So the the BE2 um pillar the B2 sorry um program area uh for the uh for this bianium 2026 2027 under each pillar. So on policy coherence um as Marta mentioned we uh in 2024 we launched the bioeconomy uh dashboard uh so we are maintaining the the dashboard but and we are updating updating it at as uh there are many uh new strategies and uh both uh already in place and under development. uh we keep supporting uh countries uh upon request in developing their own uh strategies and um and and by economy related policies. And of course we are trying to um make bio economy uh more you know widespread under our FAO uh work um and in in governing body. So across our our members um in terms of the partnership pillar we continue our engage engagement in global forum. So as as ma mentioned in the bio economy challenge but also with the GBS uh so GBS is a global bioconomy summit for example there will be um a new one uh a new session let's say a new um event in October in in Dublin. Um but we are also uh developing a bio economy partnership named bio economy for sustainable transformation or or best partnership that is currently under consultation uh among our members. uh in terms of bio innovations on the ground that basically means you know projects on the ground we keep uh leveraging fund and um uh for uh implementing more and more projects uh in in countries uh so on the field and uh for the last pillar we are advancing uh toward a core set of of indicators we lead the WG metrics so the working group on metrics and and indicators of the bio economy challenge but Mara will explain this later to you definitely better because she leads this this piece of work. Um and uh so these are uh our priorities but more in detail uh what we do under each pillar. So um for policy Koreans what does this mean in in you know in practical terms this means that countries can reach out to us uh asking for support uh in designing updating and implementing their bio economy strategies but policies in general. So not only strategies like for example so action plans and other type of of policies related to bioconomy. Um we published uh some pieces of work for example the bio economy toolbox uh which Mara uh published uh is um a sort of a step-by-step guide for uh policy makers to uh help them you know designing structuring their bio economy strategies. Uh again there is the dashboard um that uh is going to be uh like an updated version of the dashboard is going to be update uh launched soon uh probably next week and um can be helpful especially for um policy makers in order to understand what other countries uh do in terms of bio economy uh policies. and we helped concretely uh for example Namibia and Uruguay to develop their own strategies but we received other requests. So we are going also to help Kenya and Paraguay in in designing uh new bio economy uh strategies. Um in terms of the second pillar so partnership we want to of course you know um um it's pointless if we do our work uh alone uh we have to coordinate with with others and that's why uh we want to strengthen our partner let's say the partnership side with of FAO with other UN agencies but also with um with other organizations and uh in order to do this. We uh as mentioned before we are working on uh in developing a bio economy uh partnership the best partnership uh that it tends to be a global coordination platform uh where many various stakeholders from the academic side but also so the government of course other UN entities but also the civil society youth and uh um and the the private sector of course try like we want them to be uh to work on all together in shaping and enabling environment for the bio economy uh in order to make bio economy more tangible more concrete and um more actionable we so in 2025 so last year we um uh had some round of consultations also with with youth in order to understand what they what are the needs um you know for for these partnerships and uh the partnership is now under consultation with with our members um in terms of um the bioconomy challenge that uh we mentioned before I leave the floor to Martha because again she is leading this this piece of work. Yes, I I guess we have a different work of partnerships but responding to the momentum that Marta mentioned. So the best partnership helps a lot the strategies development that uh the dashboard she does and she's updates um reflects the this this global movement and and all the what is happening also the projects that we will explain later but the the COP 30 bio economy challenge is more focused on the metrics and indicators. Well, the challenge has four pillars and FAO is only responsible or leading one of them which is the first one on metrics and indicators. It's only three years a program. So that's the difference also with the with the best partnership and um the aim is to have um common understanding of what is um most easy and helpful maybe to to measure within the bioeconomy. there are very few data specific to the bioeconomy. There is a lot of data um related that is difficult to package in a way that means bio economy or supports the bio economy. So that's that's the main challenge to to see what everyone is doing get some common um yeah pathways and and indicators and ways to measure from everyone and then understand if there is a FAO available data in FAO stat for example FAT or any other UN stat uh platforms that is open available is transparent so everyone can have a minimum common shared understanding and measurement of some elements and then every country depending on their strategy can support and improve can can further expand and and support their own development process of the strategy and and um understanding if the strategy is going well or not but at least have some minimum common understanding. Yeah. Next one. Marta is still me I guess. Yes, that's the projects and please compliment Marta because you follow this a lot as well. Um that's the third pillar which is innovations on the ground but it's related to to everything. If a country is interested on the bio economy, they not only have an action plan and strategy but also policies, practices, innovations, investment in in some in some bio products or sustainable practices and this is the main point. Um we yeah have supported Namibia and Uruai in policy as as Marta mentioned also Malaysia and I answered in the chat about this it was a smaller project so it's within another publication but I I pointed you to the right um one and and now this is the mapping of countries for um projects or non not only policy and there is uh the majority of them are projects that valorize waste. So there is a problem with the waste, maybe it's being burnt, it's not being used um or is causing problems in the cities or or any other pollution problem. And then uh when waste is impossible to be valorized or is unavailable unavoidable to to generate then bioeconomic comes and and and supports making something uh good with it and valorize it hopefully and in a way that makes sense has a business model behind and and brings additional incomes to to farmers or small holders or local communities. And those waste based projects are in Kodiwa with black soldier fly that valorizes um cities and market waste. Um also in Ghana using coconut koer for some bioplastic um alternatives. in this case for making some seedling coating uh for for when planting the the the starting a plantation in Barbados after the the fish is um harvested or catched and and processed then uh the the waste behind the after that it's used sometimes as a fertilizer uh but it can be a bit better processed the way so that becomes as fish and has some other properties. Um in Pakistan they are currently burning the the banana leaves after the the harvest. So to reduce emissions also um we understand these leaves are not used and therefore can be valorized into fiber. Actually, this was a project in um in the Philippines, but uh the Jeff the Global Environmental Facility fund um a project in Pakistan using the the knowledge from from another country. Um and in Vietnaming the the husk of the rice um also for some construction material alternatives and some u better soil management as well. So this is using the waste but then also um countries can implement bioeconomy just by reducing the chemicals used in their production or in their activities and that's where um the bioinputs come in. So in Uruai we are operationalizing the bioinputs plan. Um in Thailand there is a new project on biop-olymer spray for mango plantations and in Vietnam also on the soil microbiome for rice. So uh trying to improve the soil conditions and and also using less um synthetic fertilizer and using bio input somehow for for that. And the last uh type of projects um is to come into a country and understanding what is their most promising value chain and technology and and trying to upscale it and and just mapping it to several sectors. So in Bolivia, we supported Asai um and not in um in the Amazon region as well as Kinoa value chains and they are a bit just underdeveloped. They export it raw no valorization. So just to try to valorize it, use also the waste and making since you are making new business models anyways make it in a bioeconomy way. So with maybe more than one product and and more than one market. So they you diversify and you have again more income. And in Vanuatu a very small island in the Pacific um there is a huge uh tourism sector. So we are trying to bring bioeconomy to um the activities. So some um agro tourism, biiobased facilities, biobased construction, biiobased plastics within the facilities, local um food valorization as well into um yeah food for for for the tourism sector and and again valorizing what is uh most interesting or important for the local communities in each country. That's the main the main point here. Next one, Martha, please. I think that's the fourth the fourth pillar and the last one on data. I mentioned this is our work now on the on the I guess technical side within within the COP 30 challenge and um we have recently published uh an an inventory a dashboard of indicators as you can see on the on the right uh with 3,000 indicators for the bio economy and several steps and and ways to to filter for the best uh indicators and the most interesting ones. there is a case study on South Africa that you can see there as well if interested and we are now going to implement it in in other countries um this approach and and in a way it's it's a way to pilot um the work on the challenge and understand which are these most interesting uh easy to measure and globally agreeable indicators also through pilots that I forgot to mention before and again this is all within the framework of the principles and criteria and the high level principles of the G20 where by the way Malas Malaysia was super um active in creating those. Someone in the chat asked about Malaysia. So not only we supported the bioconomy strategy but also within the within the G20 and the indicators work last year. Um we were much in touch with them. Over to Marta. I think I spoke too much. Yes. [laughter] >> Thank you Martha. So this is um just just one slide with a sort of a snapshot of what the regional uh office for Asia and the Pacific uh so FRO Europe uh based in Bangkok is is doing right now. So in terms of of bio innovations the ground so like concrete projects uh we we mentioned them Martha mentioned them um before. So there are many different projects in Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bonu. So they are um spread across across the whole region. Uh but one of the biggest um biggest projects they they are right now it's in terms of data information and knowledge sharing because um assessing biomass availability is really um you know an issue for you know for FAO but for for everyone because if you don't know what's the what is the you know the availability of biomass you cannot uh properly inform your uh value chain development. So they are working on developing a geospatial analysis model to uh to assess this uh this availability. Um in terms of partnership uh they uh had last year a really huge event uh called by economy innovations and investments forum in in Bangkok. um and they convened uh countries, NGO, startups, investors. So also the private sector in order to showcase innovations uh on by economy and inform you know partnerships so with uh with countries but also with the private sectors and uh with the civil society. Um and in terms of policy coherence, FAO RAP uh work closely uh with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific or UN escaped in Bangkok as well and they support them uh uh in and and escap members in order to develop uh and adopt a resolution that ESCAP um developed last year. Yes. um on by economy. Um and this is the final final slide. Um so this is a publication um that it's it wasn't on it wasn't us it wasn't the FAO by economy team it was another unit but I think it's a it's a great publication so I just wanted to mention this because um it uh like concentrate all together what are the opportunities for for youth in the bio economy and uh in this publication they also analyzes the strategies you know by economy strategies in order to understand um which strategy um which country in their in in strategy um focus more on on youth and has more you know actions that are oriented to involve the youth in the bio economy. So um I I'll uh we will u share every publication, every tool, every link uh that we mentioned today in the chat. Now um and uh if you want to know more of course we will uh address your question in the in the Q&A session. Um really brief this is our team. So love narratin is the environment this is the environment team. uh and Lev Neritin is uh is the leader and then we have Allesia Gordes that is natural resources officers and we are uh like the bio economy specialist we have different backgrounds um and yeah this is our our big team. So let me Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. >> All right. Uh thank you very much uh both uh Matas for your excellent presentations and uh based on your presentation I believe uh today's session has illustrated how the bioeconomy uh can serve as a powerful driver of innovation sustainability and resilient across agro food system and uh I believe uh our uh audience have a a few uh question to be asked here. Uh let me begin uh by uh reading the question for us. Uh this is I'm not sure whether it is addressed to uh M Gomez or Misa. I think both of you can uh answer this question. The first one is uh what kind of expertise needed by the FO to push this bioeconomy? I think the question is more for Martasari but very quickly for me it depends a lot on the division we have our division is environment but there is also the forestry the economics division so they all work on bioeconomy so it depends a lot on on that and also the projects depending on the country maybe if you are expert on yeah cash in in Cambodia for example or that will be very helpful but over to Marta since she's more into >> No it's It's it's true. Uh it really depends. I mean by economy is a cross you know cross- sectoral um area. Uh so I'm I'm not an economy expert. For example, you know someone uh think that if you work on by economy you need to be an economist. Uh well that's not true. Marta [laughter] Marta can confirm it. I'm a lawyer. Uh Marta is an engineer. So we have different backgrounds but um I think th this is the you know added value of of the bio economy as it's a cross- sectoral area you can have different backgrounds and you can still be you know be really helpful and you can uh you can really shape uh uh the work on on bio economy whatever your your background experience is. All right. Uh thank you uh Mata for the answers and um yeah another question coming from our audience. Uh he said that he is quite concerned with who ultimately benefits from the bioeconomy innovations are social and community protections or not just integrated but part of the uh DNA for bioeconomic activities and innovation. for example, a member nation with weak governance structure susceptible to patronage politics. Uh could you um I mean lighten us uh on that issue? I mean in terms of the uh benefit of the bioeconomic innovation so so who benefit the most? Um okay I mean I can start and then of course Martha can can uh uh so I what FO is doing on by economy uh really wants to benefit people first you know the food system the agri food system and and people uh the local communities. So when we um we develop a project on the ground, we think as Manta said what are the main challenges but also what are the main um like the the what's the characteristic of the place what they have and what we can do in order to u make what they already have more uh you know um make it beneficial for everybody. Um and um yes so basically um we we also we want of course to the bio economy to be environmental sustainable because this is for everybody. Of course if it's sustainable it it's help us as you know the world but we also wanted to like for example indigenous people local communities women youth to be engaged to be involved in this project. uh ma do you do you want to expand this >> that's a very good point that's why FAO works on on bioeconomy because yeah is the the the agri food systems the farmers that need to benefit from it but what what we can see from also from countries um apart from FAO's work is that normally is a more um a less hierarchical or or or more accessible economy because biomass is not everywhere but is more yeah I guess um accessible for for global communities they know the knowledge they know how to use it is not like the fossil fuel sector that maybe some few have access to the resource and is much more vertical u yeah structured so that's uh what countries want to do in their strategies when we analyze them are uh Yeah. How how to make business models that are a bit more um smaller but everywhere more accessible to everyone. And um yeah, I guess the making an economy that is is is for the local communities as well. And um Malaysia again is a very good example. The the whole strategy and the and yeah and and the activities they do is to benefit the B40 group. They always mention it everywhere. So is is the bottom um 40% of yeah um they have less than than 40% of their income. So yes and there is a very nice model in Malaysia where the again this the the government makes the link between the private sector the businesses the the industry and the small holder farmers. So the small holder farmers know what to plant, what is necessary, which biomass, how to valorize it and also the the industries they develop some tools or some trainings for them. H ensure they buy this biomass from them. They have these contracts. So so the government is there to to try to facilitate this. So FAO doesn't work with the private sector. What we can see from the from the the count's work and the strategies is that there is a a strong link to the private sector that is not so hierarchical and vertical and and there is some nice examples like Malaysia where the government and the private sector work together to support the the bottom 40 the B 40 over. >> All right. Uh thank you M. Uh another question is uh in the bioeconomy initiatives presented today how have women participated in decision making processes and is there evident that these initiatives have contributed to women's empowerment at the household or community level. Yeah. Please either one of you >> maybe I go for the strategy development process is hard to to involve civil society. We we tried um in in our toolbox you see all the steps and how to do it in the perfect way. It's never perfect. Um so so having someone on the table doesn't mean ownership or of course they are involved in the design but not much maybe the decision making later on or so. So so one idea that we have and and could some countries do but not many are doing is in the action plan. So every strategy has an action plan where the bioconomy gets operationalized in every country and there you have always the list of um erh organizations, uh, ministries, whoever, any stakeholder that is in h in charge of every action of the strategy and they will be um yeah, there are indicators also to measure their performance and if they are supporting or not these actions. If you have there a woman's group or a or a woman's cooperative or or someone um they are already part of of the of the decision making because they will design they need to agree to be there but also they will implement and they will be part of of it not only one day in a round table and that's it issue funding and and time so I guess if you put some stakeholders there to develop your bioeconomy action plan you need to support them if they don't have the means to to do it maybe with their own funding because they are not a ministry or they are not a an organization but that's only one idea and in in some projects yes in in Barbados and and and others we have a only woman working on it sorry in cowover not Barbados but over to Marta maybe that she was following a bit some of these projects >> you know I just wanted to mention that um so we recently mapped some projects on bioinputs because bioinputs is again a really hot topic right now and um FAO is part of some conversations also with the European Union for example in it and we mapped some uh some projects and there is in particular one project in Egypt that um aims to involve um women in particular and basically is um there are some already some outcomes of this project. I will share um I will share the like um a sort of a brief on on this in the chat but basically um the the project aims to um achieve enhancement in incomes, employment and also nutritional status for uh rural households and uh it targeted some rural communities of eight selected villages in in the minion governator. ate in Egypt and um it's a it's this is a gender based uh um you know sort of a project because we really want to uh involve women in uh and and in by economy related activities and basically uh we are we try to um make them more involved uh but also more aware of what uh bio economy uh can can do for them. you know what how they can be uh part of of the change and uh what bio economy can can do for uh for them in order to let's say upgrade their um their livelihoods. >> All right. Thank you. I believe uh the uh project initiative that you mentioned just now uh it is safe to say that uh it is uh I would say uh comprehensive as well as uh inclusive uh taking into consideration the involvement of women right and um I believe another question came in um this is quite a challenging how to really make the idea of the bioeconomic to become real and useful in all the farmer levels and community level you want to respond to that >> could you please sorry could you please repeat I had some issues there. Sorry. >> How to really make the idea of the bioeconomic to become real and useful uh for the farmers regarding uh who are they and community levels. So in short I believe uh to ensure the uh effectiveness of the program. >> Okay. Yeah. I I'll I'll start but then Ma please compliment because Ma is is really on project. Um I so you know it's I think that the biggest challenge in this case is making people understand what bio economy is because again there is not uh you know a commonly uh established definition of bio economy but actually we use we have bio economy in our daily lives but we don't know that so it's the first step I think is um a s a sort of a knowledge shift sharing you know of what bio economy is and make them visible what bio economy can do uh for you know for local communities and uh of course there is also a matter of implement by economy because sometimes by economy it's not that easy to implement uh bio innovations but there are for example uh in koduir we have this black soldier fly uh project you know black soldier fly really doesn't need uh basically anything in order to be implemented because it's larvae that um it's organic waste h and they produce like you can produce fertilizers and also feed stock for um sorry feed for for the animals so it's really uh it doesn't need a lot to be implemented just the knowledge so I think that the biggest challenge is the knowledge and we can help uh local communities you know in order uh with uh with of course the the challenges and um and of course we we we uh help them we assist them in all the process. >> M if you >> Yes. And actually that's what you said before that's the the aim of this best partnership we are trying to to set up which is to make a movement of it and and really going everywhere because we've seen first time maybe everyone asked many questions second time everyone is doing bioeconomy already of course uh and want to do it better for example um we were supporting very h the farmers in Asai in Bolivia this is a very montaneous area they really are really poor they only have sorry Norasai um um kinoa the kinoa they only have kinoa and yeah and and still they were so excited on what they could do with the ways with with how to improve the soil and use bio inputs yeah so even those farmers that are in really really difficult conditions in the mountains for example um coming to into the the the bio economy so um then is the issue of really making projects that uh can help them. Uh and that's what we try to do. But um yeah, we need we need that in every country at least there is one conference, one project, one strategy, one anything that starts and then it's like yeah a reaction almost like an ensematic reaction it starts really really um growing very fast. uh and and then is where FAO comes to support hopefully. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you, Ma. Uh this is another question. And uh I believe uh yeah as you mentioned just now bioeconomic is an emerging field in many countries right so what advice would you offer to uh especially postgraduate students or even early career researchers who have an interest in pursuing research or careers in this area. Um so I I'm I'm personally a PhD in in biocon. So um I think that bio economy again is a really cross- sectoral area and for example my PhD is focused on law because I'm I'm a lawyer but and there are many aspects that are correlated to to the bioeconomy from a legal perspective of course because if you want to implement bio economy any activity you need to be you know under the boundaries of the law you have to to uh you you uh you need to comp complain with with this um but you can so it's it's a really huge momentum for bioeconomy um for example bio inputs are really a topic uh but there are many others for example bioplastics is bio economy bioplastics is is a really another hot topic right now um you can focus on whatever you want uh but to [clears throat] in in order to you know um research on this topic and um FAO has many um many publications that can be really useful have uh also databases for example FOX is a database with all the policies uh related to bioconomy the dashboard again is makes an analysis of of all the strategies and and policies related to bio economy Um also the European Commission works a lot on bio economy but uh I I I was part of the you know FAO rap uh office and I know that Thailand for example has works a lot on by economy um and the Asian university uh network in in general um has many really good piece of uh of research on on the bio economy. So I think that if you want to explore this topic, this is the right the right moment. >> M any comments from there? >> Yeah, it's always hard to to start a research project and then understand what will happen in in two or three years time. But what m Marta mentioned maybe now for sure there is a political framework and momentum. So maybe some more concrete bio inputs or or innovations that fall under that for sure I think will have um a space because countries have these strategies and that they need to implement in maybe 10 years time or five years. So the the frame the the timing is there for for research I think. Yeah. >> Okay. Uh I believe uh the uh bioeconomy uh I would say industry in the future uh it is safe to say that if we have a proper uh policy as a guidance then uh I believe the industry will be uh more or less sustained right in the future but uh how how do you foresee the uh so-called demand for the bioeconomy product in the future? Oh, that's that's a really nice question. Uh, so um I think that as we analyze strategies, bio economy strategies, we we see that governments know that bioindustries are, you know, a really huge piece of of work on bio economy. Of course, because uh there are many byproducts that can um derive from from bioeconomy activities and um but there are some issues in order to uh implement and to make bio like the private sector more involved in in bio economy because um first of all there is a lack of policy coherence and it's where FAO uh tried to you know help assist countries is uh because of course if you don't know what the law wants from you, you don't know what to do. [laughter] So it's it's it's a problem, you know, it's there's no coherence. It's there's no clarity on what uh you can do and you cannot do from a legal perspective. And uh of course this also um like um doesn't help the financial sector because uh no private want to finance some you know projects if they don't know what are the you know what in the future could be uh like expecties. So this is another uh policy coy is is a is a think that uh really it's really important and can help strengthen the uh the private sector and in general you know the development of of the of the bioindustry sector. uh there will be for I mean in my perspective I think that from now on uh we are understanding that bio economy can really help us take pollution uh biodiversity um biodiversity uh degradation and uh climate change. So uh I think that the bio industry sector can really grow in the future like a lot. Uh but again we need to be we need clarity on what the the the sector can do or cannot do. >> Okay. Finger cross on that. Uh hopefully the the industry can be sustained in the long run. Right. Okay. Uh another question I think uh regarding the black soldiers fly right uh as both of you mentioned just now uh BSF the black soldier fly is a very good thing they just need a knowledge to improve the idea of bioeconomic right but uh in front of yield and profit how will the farmer choose between chemical fertilizer as well as uh BSF uh with regards to the usage of this uh product as a fertilizer. I believe yeah it is either to choose chemical fertilizer or pet soldier fly as a fertilizer. I I thought uh BSF is used for as a feed, right? >> Yeah. But also as a fertilizer because it's it's an organic uh bio like the bio inputs is an organic fertilizer. Um well um I think it's really it doesn't cost basically a lot you know the the fertilizer from BSF because it's as as I as I said is really cost efficient you know the the this techn this by innovation um so I think that of course um we can think about for example incentives so in my PSA thesis I'm talking about this. I'm I'm thinking about incentives for farmers in order to use organic fertilizers organic bio inputs instead of the chemical ones. Um but uh now that there is also a lot of uncertainty on chemical fertilizer again this can be a nice momentum to uh you know to widespread uh what by economy can can can do for us because uh BSF is a really really costefficient technology and uh anybody can imp you know, a black soldier flies uh cage in her garden in in their garden, giving them or organic waste and uh using fertilizer, using the the the larvae for the feed. So, it's really costefficient. I don't know if Marta knows knows also a lot on this. So please m integrate my >> so it's all about the uh I would say uh dollar and cent right is this cost efficient then uh it can be done all right uh another question is uh I guess uh ma you want to respond to this question uh does the fao interface with other UN or international organization to advance multiple goals that head in a unified direction for example example UN Woman or UNF CCC or UN DP etc. or is there currently any movement to offer a unified package to help realize the SG goals? >> Yes. So we that's what we are trying to do with the best partnership. Um last year we had um um two sessions Marta correct me if I'm wrong two sessions with the UN environment management group so is the environment people in every UN agency uh and also with those bioconomy experts in other agencies that there are not so many but there are in UNIDO there is a a small team and and others so so that's our work within the best partnership that hopefully it will be approved by the end of the year and then we can have maybe a package or or some more concrete deliverables. Now we are only consulting towards the formation of the partnership. And second is the the challenge on the metrics um work we are doing. We have UNEP and Yunido very closely working with us on indicators. And last is the work with ESCAP that Marta has done in the region that she mentioned. There is a resolution by um put it forward by Bangladesh but uh paired up by other countries I think um and also other economic commissions Latin American economic commission um also is working with us on indicators. So they are also part of the UN. Over to Marta. No. >> Okay. Uh I believe at the moment we we have uh that is all for for Q&A session. I believe uh probably a [clears throat] few words from you uh both uh Ma Ma Solari or Ma Gomez. Uh any final words before we uh I would say conclude this session? Um I just want to say that okay maybe this this sounds like a really you know not not not really special but uh I really want to tell you that you you should be curious. Uh so be curious and read a lot on whatever topic in this case by economy but there is a lot on by economy. So be curious and think uh you know um um try to engage with other people because bio economy is actually again in our daily lives you know there's bio economy everywhere but we don't know so and also you can have a small idea like black soldier flight that is a really um not I mean stupid idea but it's like so simple you know uh you can fit a flight with organic waste and you can have so many different benefits from this. And um so if you have any idea try like try to explore it and maybe you can find out that this is a great bio economy idea and you can implement with basically at no cost and um and and yes please also uh engage with us. Uh I put my email now on in the chat. So if you want to reach out to me or also to to our team uh please do that. And um yeah that's it. >> Great. Any words from you Ma? [clears throat] >> Yes. So apart from what Marta said also be part of networks. I think is sometimes a bit of extra work. you is not only your own research or project or or or just work but um is so important. We we need a youth bioeconomy group in Asia. Uh there is a one in Latin America but still coming and going. H in Europe there is but but still we are we are missing from from many regions sub regions even countries and and I think that really helps to connect to to others being curious but also with other regions with other places. So so I think this network sometimes is a bit of time but not much and it really gives a a lot a lot of perspective and yeah >> all right uh thank you very much uh ma. All right. Uh ladies and gentlemen, uh I think uh uh that's about it. Uh as we conclude uh today's session, uh I would like to extend our sincere appreciation to our distinguished speakers for sharing their valuable expertise and experiences. We also thank all participants uh for your active engagement throughout today's webinar. Uh and just uh for uh uh reminder, today's recording will be made available uh through the Google link uh Google Drive link uh shared in the Zoom chat. And uh bear in mind that our next lecture will be held on Thursday uh 17th July uh 2026 uh around 11 a.m. Malaysia time. Uh the title of the uh next lecture will be one country one priority product initiative uh which will be presented by Dr. Jean Lee a senior policy officer at FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific. Right. So over to you Marilyn. >> Thank you so much. Uh we have two sessions tomorrow. one on one one country, one priority that is important because it's it's an Asian it's a nation initi initiative at 11:00 a.m. Malaysia time and then another one on integrated agriculture and aquaculture system and governance mechanisms for sustainable aquacultural development at 15 Malaysia time.