We are pleased to announce the fitht session of the cycle Territory Talks | THE TERRITORY’S FUTURE(S) where we will debate the future of Food and agriculture in the next 30 years. The next session will take place, online, on Tuesday 15th November at 6 – 7 pm (GMT) . Lorenzo Giovanni Bellù, Senior Economist at the UN Strategic Foresight Network Focal Point for FAO will discuss the future of food and agriculture in the next 30 years.
Uncertainty shapes the future of food and agriculture. Uncertainties involve demographic dynamics, dietary choices, technological progress, income distribution, the state of natural resources, climate change, the sustainability of peace, etc. How these factors will evolve over time and across different regions of the World is impossible to know with precision, but they are certain to shape the future. The FAO report “Future of Food and Agriculture: Alternative Pathways to 2050” offers a foresight exercise that outlines alternative scenarios and highlights potential pathways for Food and agricultural systems. The outline of alternative scenarios supports the identification of strategic orientations to guide food and agricultural systems along sustainable pathways at national, regional and global levels.
Organized in the framework of CETRAD’s 20th anniversary, the “Territory Talks” are a contribution to imagine and (re)think the place that territories can and should occupy in the construction of a prospective, desirable and possible scenario for Portugal, in the light of the major societal, environmental and technological challenges of the 21st century : the demographic transition/crisis; the climate crisis, the efficient use of resources and the safeguarding of natural ecosystems, agriculture and the transition of the global food system, the reconfiguration of the globalisation model and re-industrialisation, the digital transformation of society and the new models for work and the mobility of individuals and companies, the crisis of democracy and how to encourage citizen action.
Lorenzo Giovanni Bellù. Team leader, Senior Economist at the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) Global Perspectives Studies Team since 2000. PhD in Economic Policy (Università Cattolica Milan, IT). His key areas of expertise and work include: Global and country-level development processes and related implications for food and agriculture; Socio-economic and environmental impact assessment of policies; Policy impact analysis by means of Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) and other quantitative analysis tools; Analysis of cross-country interdependencies and contributions and limits of agricultural development and agricultural policies for poverty reduction and food security in the changing global environment. In the field of foresight studies his main areas of work include: Backstopping the development of quantitative economic models and other tools for global scenario analysis; Managing the Global Perspectives Studies team and liaising with internal teams and external organizations; Preparation of policy-relevant documents and other material, such as tools and case studies for socio-economic policy impact analysis, poverty and income distribution; Backstopping the development and maintenance of policy-related publication series and web-sites for policy advice and capacity development. Lorenzo Giovanni Bellù has accumulated a long work experience in a large set of geographical contexts, Middle-East, European, Asian and African Countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Russia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc.