FAO’s Director-General and Professor Joachim von Braun stress scientific communities’ role in achieving the SDGs

17 January 2020, Berlin – FAO Director General QU Dongyu and Professor Joachim von Braun, Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Chair of the German Bioeconomy Council, in a meeting today, emphasized the important role that scientific communities need to play in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

During their talks on the sidelines of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, Professor von Braun and the FAO Director-General also discussed the contribution that bioeconomy-relevant policies can make to support countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda.

Professor von Braun underscored how bioeconomy has gained a dynamic worldwide political importance. The German Bioeconomy Council, which promotes bioeconomy policies, in a report has noted that 49 countries, have initiated bioeconomy-relevant policy strategies, and that 15 of these have even published dedicated bioeconomy policy strategies.

Professor von Braun invited the Director-General to the third Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020 (Berlin, 19-20 November) to share his views on sustainable consumption and the demand side of bioeconomy policies.