A set of factors is determining a new global scenario. It is no longer just geopolitical conditions in the context of a multipolar world that defines a new future, but also a set of mega-trends that will impact governments and their citizens; we are, without a doubt, facing the advent of a new techno-productive paradigm which comes from technological convergence and the biotechnological revolution.
These global trends – according to various analyzes – establish new opportunities and challenges for humanity. Among the most mentioned are:
Demographic evolution: with growth in many developing countries, large migrations and an urban rather than rural future.
Technological revolution and convergence: highlighting the role of information and communication technologies and the emergence of nanotechnology, the need to generate innovative dynamics and manage the “digital divide” as the basis for a new biotechnological paradigm.
Accelerated globalization: with greater scientific and technological interdependence, greater trade and investment flows and the formation of new regionalisms and partially overlapping free trade agreements.
The different future scenarios that are configured in the face of these global trends already raise the need to discuss a regional strategy within the framework of the new Bioeconomics.
Although these are the main trends to be taken into account in the future, it is also necessary to consider and mention potential risks and uncertainties that remain open: inequalities within and between countries, depletion of non-renewable resources, global warming, and financial and food crises. The different future scenarios that are configured in the face of these global trends already raise the need to discuss a regional strategy within the framework of the new Bioeconomics, understood as the use of biomass in an innovative way to add more value locally and generate new productive opportunities in a sustainable way.
Lisa Hiwasaki
Lisa Hiwasaki is an environmental anthropologist, with experience in the design, management and coordination of interdisciplinary research on environmental conservation, and leads the Climate Change program of the International Development Research Center (IDRC).
In the CILAC Forum, I have joined the panel on Mechanisms of adaptation to climate change, on October 24, contributing to the development that day on Bioeconomy. In addition, she was interviewed by Ben Deighton, Director of SciDev.Net, where she gave more details about the program she leads and the challenges that climate change brings.