Bioeconomy offers path to mitigating climate change, enhancing food production

Nairobi — 

Bioeconomy is the production, use, and conservation of biologic resources to nutrient goods that prolong communities. A caller study says the promotion of bioeconomy arsenic a mode to woody with clime alteration holds committedness for agrarian areas successful Africa and elsewhere.

As the satellite grapples with however to header with the effects of clime alteration connected the environment, nutrient production, and people’s livelihoods, experts accidental the bioeconomy tin connection solutions to those challenges and assistance execute sustainable development.

Their conclusions are presented successful a caller report, The State of the Bioeconomy successful East Africa Report 2024, authored by the Stockholm Environment Institute, the East African Science and Technology Commission, and the International Center of Insects Physiology and Ecology, oregon ICIPE.

The authors accidental the usage of renewable biologic resources, and the exertion of related knowledge, subject and exertion offers a accidental to thrust economical maturation and — astir importantly — boost nutrient information portion protecting the environment.

For example, Regina Muthama is simply a husbandman who trains different farmers successful her assemblage successful Eastern Kenya, wherever determination is often a shortage of rainfall to turn food. She says she plants respective types of crops and trees unneurotic to maximize the h2o supply, and truthful the trees tin shadiness crops from the beardown African sun.

“We are increasing trees, which we integrate with crops truthful that erstwhile we h2o the trees, we tin besides h2o the crops that tin springiness america food. The benignant of trees we works tin mitigate clime change, forestall ungraded erosion, and springiness america bully oxygen,” she said.

Experts accidental Eastern Africa is location to immense cultivation fertile lands, biodiversity, and a youthful population, which positions the portion arsenic a person successful bioeconomy innovation.

Abdou Tenkouano is the manager wide of ICIPE Kenya. Speaking astatine the Global Biodiversity Summit (GBS) this week successful Nairobi, helium said bioeconomy improvement needs to supply opportunities for young people, and make ways to conscionable people’s nutrient needs.

“We indispensable besides conscionable the employment needs of the youth, who are the largest demographic conception successful Africa and the planetary south," helium said. "We are successful a clime crisis, which is present an existential threat. We indispensable follow caller ways of accumulation and depletion that are sustainable. The bioeconomy offers this caller exemplary of sustainable economical growth.”

According to the Stockholm Environment Institute, much than 65 percent of radical surviving successful Eastern Africa beryllium connected biologic resources for food, energy, medicine, and different purposes.

Venter Mwongera is the chairperson of nationalist and planetary engagements astatine the Intersectoral Forum connected Agrobiodiversity and Agroecology successful Kenya. She explains the benefits of embracing the bioeconomy.

"We tin proceed increasing our economy, contributing to GDP and contributing to occupation instauration due to the fact that these industries that manufacture the nutrient oregon products we get from agriculture minimize the emanation of greenhouse gases, which means that we volition person a cleaner environment. It besides means that jobs volition beryllium retained and much volition beryllium created, and determination volition besides beryllium sustainable nutrient production,” said Mwongera.

The East African Community determination bloc has developed a bioeconomy strategy that aims to person sustainable industrialization, amended nutrient and nutrition security, amended health, and make bio-based products which are derived from plants, animals and microorganisms.

Tenkouano says ICIPE is trying to amusement the way.

“We make and deploy nature-positive solutions for insect pests and vector management. We besides pb probe successful insects arsenic alternate sources of macromolecule for nutrient and provender and agents of integrated discarded conversion,” helium said.

Experts accidental the bioeconomy arsenic a rule is winning supporters. However, a deficiency of financing, mediocre infrastructure, debased cultivation productivity, and excessive authorities regularisation inactive contiguous challenges to broader adoption.