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The Bioeconomy Talks series features interviews with experts on bioeconomy themes that are linked to agrifood systems transformation

Marta Gomez San Juan studied at the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the University of Illinois (USA) and Cranfield University (UK). Her background is in agricultural engineering and biosystems. For the past eight years, she has worked on bioeconomy-related issues as part of FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment. She is currently a senior bioeconomy expert supporting the leadership of FAO’s “Bioeconomy for sustainable food and agriculture” programme priority area.

We sat down with Marta to discuss the role women play as sustainable and circular bioeconomy champions in driving agrifood systems transformation.

Can you tell us about your path towards becoming a bioeconomy expert?

Bioeconomy is a mixture of my backgrounds – agronomy, engineering, rural development, biotech, innovation, sustainability policy and green chemistry. My family ties with food and farming in Spain inspired me to study agricultural engineering at university – I was one of only two females in my class! When I was 21, as a youth representative of the International Association of Agricultural Students, I had the privilege of attending the World Food Prize in Ames, Iowa, where I got to meet many interesting people, including delegates from UN Women. As a young woman there, I felt empowered and thought: “I have a role to play and, like a smallholder farmer, I should work hard every day to make agriculture more sustainable”. Early on in my career, this meant working on policy development for green growth. Then I got the opportunity to work at FAO, where I initially focused on climate-smart agriculture, before joining the bioeconomy team when the first project on bioeconomy started in 2016. Bioeconomy is so important for the future of food and agriculture, and the way FAO is looking to embed sustainability into bioeconomy development inspires me every day.

You participate in many international events on behalf of FAO, do you feel that women are adequately represented in the international bioeconomy policy sphere?

I was very nervous the first time I was invited to make a keynote speech on bioeconomy at a major conference. You certainly stand out as a young woman speaking to a crowd of experienced, mostly male bioeconomy experts! But I prepared hard for that event and the speech went really well, which gave me huge confidence. Since then I’ve spoken at many events such as COP 27, OECD and European Union meetings, and the Asia-Pacific 3R forum to name just a few. The positive thing I’ve noticed is that female participation is increasing, and often the women attending are in leading roles; for example, representing governments or major private sector or industry groups. However, we still require more inclusive representation to create not just a sustainable and circular bioeconomy, but also an equitable one that recognizes the needs and contributions of all stakeholders.

What can women bring to the development of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy?

Women are already major drivers of bioeconomy transformation, whether that be in primary production, processing, marketing, end-of-life management/recycling, research and innovation, industry, policy, or government. As part of our “Towards Sustainable Bioeconomy Guidelines” project, FAO supported the governments of Namibia and Uruguay in developing their proposed national bioeconomy strategies in a very gender-sensitive way. I have spent time in both those countries getting to meet remarkable women entrepreneurs who feel empowered to start new business activities based on their biological resources and traditional knowledge. One women’s cooperative in Namibia that we contacted ended up being recognized as food heroes for World Food Day, which I think validates the innovative bioeconomy work of women in all countries. As an aside, our small bioeconomy team in FAO is mostly comprised of women, and as the first UN agency to make bioeconomy a strategic priority I feel proud of the work our team is doing in spreading the bioeconomy message!

Within the bioeconomy sphere, who are the women that have inspired you? And why?

From a personal point of view, I have to start with my grandmothers who transmitted their love of the land and respect for precious natural resources to me. At an international level, Ms Zurina Che Dir, who led the bioeconomy programme of Malaysia, was one of the shining lights of the bioeconomy in Asia and dedicated to a bioeconomy pathway that could benefit the poorest and most vulnerable. In the FAO bioeconomy team, young women have always been very well represented, all doing a fantastic job in strengthening the agrifood systems perspective within international bioeconomy discussions. On a day-to-day level, my colleagues inspire me through their incredible work ethic, grasp of detail and (very importantly!) good humour.

Lastly, what are some major challenges and opportunities in the bioeconomy you see for women in the coming years?

The main challenge is something I touched on earlier – women are still underrepresented in national, regional and global discussions on bioeconomy. This can have a negative impact in many areas including lack of educational opportunities, access to bio-resources, financing for bio-based innovations, etc. If we are talking about bioeconomy as a leapfrogging approach, we need to ensure we don’t replicate the same business-as-usual flaws associated with the fossil-based economy.

But let’s end on a positive note. There are many opportunities out there for women to influence the growth of the bioeconomy. Just one example – we gave a group of female climate negotiators a crash course on bioeconomy before COP 27 so that they could articulate the importance of bioeconomy in the climate agenda. Bioeconomy will play an increasing role in climate and biodiversity discussions, and it is heartening to see that the female perspective is gaining influence in these areas. Bioeconomy is the diversity of biological resources, the diversity of products that we can obtain from them, but also the diversity of people, countries, sectors and cultures that have the knowledge and are guardians of these resources. If we always keep this in mind, the future looks very bright!

International Women’s Day is celebrated each year on 8 March. Find out more how FAO supports women in agriculture here.

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FAO Sustainable and circular bioeconomy

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