MoU between FAO and IGSNRR-CAS on GIES Supporting OCOP
Li, X.1 Liu, C.2*
1. FAO Aisa and Pacific Office,
Bangkok 10200, Thailand;
2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources
Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101
Abstract: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Geographical
Indications Environment & Sustainability (GIES) supporting One Country One
Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative was signed between the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Institute of Geographic
Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
(IGSNRR-CAS) in February 2024. FAO launched OCOP flagship of the Special
Agricultural Products (SAP) initiative in 2021 for contribution to the
transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood
systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a
better life, leaving no one behind. IGSNRR-CAS launched GIES in 2021 and
developed GIES methodology and technology integrating science, data, internet
of things, engineering, standards and geographical culture. 17 successful GIES
cases from 11 provinces of China were demonstrated. The cooperation partnership
will benefit not only the countries where OCOP is implemented, but also the
farmers.
Keywords: GIES; OCOP; MoU; FAO; IGSNRR-CAS
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2024.03.01
CSTR: https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.99.2024.03.01
1 Introduction
A Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability
(GIES) supporting One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative was signed
between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese
Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR-CAS) on the sidelines of the 37th FAO Regional
Conference for Asia and the Pacific. Professor Wang, Shenglin, Deputy Director
General of IGSNRR-CAS, and Dr. Jong-Jin Kim, Assistant Director-General and FAO
Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, were the co-signatory of the
MoU. The agreement will leverage the innovative GIES methodology developed by
IGSNRR-CAS to ??energize implementation?? of the FAO flagship OCOP initiative in
the Asia and Pacific region (FAO report on 19 February 2024 in Colombo, Sri
Lanka).
The MoU signature ceremony on cooperation
was presided over by Dr. Li, Xuan, Senior Policy Officer of FAO in Asia and
Pacific Region (Figure 1). More than 30 FAO officials and experts, and scholars
from the IGSNRR-CAS, the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, and representatives of
countries in Asia and the Pacific Region participated in the signing ceremony.
Mr. Younten Phuntsho, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Bhutan, Mr.
Brown Konabe, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Papua New Guinea, Mrs.
Beth Bechdol, Assistant Director General of FAO, Mr. Zhu, Yanwei, Acting Charge
Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, and Dr. Liu, Chuang, Professor of
IGSNRR-CAS, Chief Scientist of the GIES Program, and Vice Chairman of the OCOP
Organizing Group in Asia and Pacific Region for the FAO OCOP initiative
attended the signing ceremony and supervised the signing procedure. Dr.
Jong-Jin Kim, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for
Asia and the Pacific and Professor Wang, Shenglin, Deputy Director General of
IGSNRR-CAS are the co-signatory of the MoU (Figure 2), the cooperation
partnership between the FAO and IGSNRR-CAS was established (Figure 3).
Figure
1 Dr. Li, Xuan
presided over the MoU signature ceremony
(FAO, Feb. 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Figure 2 Dr. Jong-Jin Kim and Professor
Wang, Shenglin co-signed the MoU
(FAO, Feb. 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
|
Figure 3 FAO and IGSNRR- CAS established the
cooperation partnership
|
2 FAO
One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative
The Global Action on Green Development of Special Agricultural
Products: One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) launched by FAO to promote at
global, regional and national levels the Special Agricultural Products (SAP)
with unique qualities and special characteristics that can contribute to the
transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood
systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a
better life, leaving no one behind[1].
Since the launch of the OCOP in September 2021, over 53 SAPs from over 83
countries have joined the initiative from all five FAO regions, including Africa,
Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Near East and North Africa (Figure 4).
In Asia and Pacific region, the OCOP
implementation follows two track action lines, they are the national level
projects line and the regional knowledge sharing line. FAO collaborates with
partners to coordinate knowledge sharing and practical experience exchange in
the process and outcomes of OCOP implementation at the national and regional
levels. The IGSNRR-CAS is one of the four core members of the Asia Pacific
regional organization working group established by FAO. The working group is
responsible for coordinating the OCOP implementation in the region, and supporting
the global OCOP steering committee at FAO headquarters and the OCOP working
group at the national level. The signing of the cooperation memorandum will
ensure the development of innovative methods and technologies based on
geographic resources and promote the implementation of the FAO flagship
program??the ??One Country One Priority Product?? initiative in Asia and the
Pacific.
The OCOP initiative proposed by FAO aims to help build sustainable
value chains for special agricultural products in member countries. Featured
agricultural products are crops with unique qualities related to specific
regions, farming methods, and cultural heritage. Special agricultural products
have unique flavors and high nutritional value, but their potential has not yet
been fully realized in the fields of planting and sales. The consensus in the
Figure
4 Map of OCOP products (FAO,
2021)
memorandum
of understanding is that the IGSNRR-CAS will provide free technology transfer
of the innovative methods and technologies, and near real-time monitoring data
on the environmental parameters, which will greatly help to enhance the green
transformation capability of the agrifood system.
3 The GIES Program Led by IGSNRR-CAS
In
2021, IGSNRR-CAS, in collaboration with the Geographical Society of China (GSC)
and 40 other related organizations, launched the ??Decade Initiative on
Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability 2021?C2030??, aiming to
provide a science-supported solution in reaching the SDGs of the United Nations
in balancing environment and development[2].
GIES was developed
based on the integration of open science principles, geographic data, Internet
of Things technology and hierarchical standards, as well as cultural heritage,
to form a multi-stakeholder cooperation mechanism. It is a toolkit that integrates
science, technology, engineering, management, and culture, proposing principles
and norms of high-quality, geographical products, environmental protection in
the place of origin, and sustainable development as keywords. It proposes to
establish a value chain among the production, storage, processing, market, and
terminal consumption of special agriculture products from their origin to the
end consumers. It provides a valuable innovative solution for the
implementation of OCOP[3?C11].
GIES system was
operated by the Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository
(GCdataPR), a regular member of the World Data System of the International
Science Council. The GCdataPR was awarded the WSIS (World Summit on Information
Society) Prize in 2018 and 2021 (e-Science,
Champion). 17 cases from 11 provinces of China were identified, including lamb,
coffee, rice, black rice, burdock, lychee, wheat flour, millet, pear, sweet
potato, fish, cobnuts, apple, taro, etc. (Figure 5). All of these cases benefit
local farmers and consumers in diverse ways.
Figure
5 Products
from 17 GIES cases in 11 provinces of China
The first GIES workshop hosted by FAO and IGSNRR-CAS
was held as a side event of the International Green and Low Carbon Innovation
Conference in August 2023 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province of China, and then the
activities of case investigation in Feng County of Jiangsu Province and the
GIES capacity building in Beijing helped participates from Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Cambodia, Nepal and Papua New Guinea. The workshop informed participants on how
IGSNRR-CAS has developed GIES framework, designed and implemented the GIES
methodology and technology for wide range of SAPs in different agro-ecological
zones, and about how GIES specifications are applied and GIES cases reviewed
and evaluated in China. All of the participates expressed their urge to
transfer the innovative and practical technological solutions to OCOP
countries.
4 Both Parties Were Confident in the Cooperation
At
the signature ceremony, Dr. Beth Bechdol (Figure 6), FAO Deputy
Director-General indicated that ??at
FAO, we believe that science, technology and innovation are central to
transforming agrifood systems. So, today??s signing expresses our continued
commitment to leveraging science and innovation. This agreement between FAO and
IGSNRR-CAS will benefit not only the countries where we are working in, but
most importantly, it will benefit farmers themselves.?? She highly evaluated the
cooperation, noting that the institute has already been supporting the OCOP
initiative, and she believes that the Institute ??will add value to the special
agricultural products by establishing both geographical and environmental
traceability.??
Dr. Jong-Jin Kim indicated that the GIES
methodology, pioneered by IGSNRR-CAS, uses open science technology to trace the
geographical origin of a specific special agricultural product by assessing and
monitoring the quality of the local environment where the product grows (Figure
7). It connects the specific SAP, the local productive environment, the local
SAP producer groups, and consumers with open data access. The institute has
made great progress in realizing the positive socioeconomic potential of several
special agricultural products in China while ensuring production is
environmentally sustainable. He remarked that the signing of the MoU marked ??a
very important milestone?? in OCOP implementation in the region. ??We are coming
together as partners together to support our Member states.??
Professor Wang, Shenglin (Figure 8), Deputy Director General of IGSNRR-CAS
indicated that this MoU was a new milestone for the institute. He said that on behalf
of IGSNRR-CAS to make the commitment to working with FAO on leveraging GIES for
OCOP implementation and the institute will move ??from commitment to action with
technology transfer, knowledge sharing and capacity building??.
Figure
6 Dr. Beth
Bechdol highly evaluated the cooperation at the MoU signature ceremony
(FAO, Feb. 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri
Lanka)
Figure
7 Dr. Jong-Jin Kim
delivered his speech at the MoU signature ceremony
(FAO, Feb.9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Figure
8 Professor
Wang, Shenglin delivered his speech at the MoU signature ceremony
(FAO, Feb. 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Figure
9 Group photo
at the MoU signature ceremony
(FAO, Feb. 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
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