International Science Festival

The fifth edition of the "International Science Festival: agriculture, food, environment" is devoted to the issues surrounding food security, food system sustainability and natural resource preservation in a context of population growth and climate change.

The 2025 edition of the International Science Festival proposes a debate on a major issue: feeding 10 billion people in 2050 while respecting the planet's limitations. Our current food systems are still having difficulty guaranteeing food and nutrition security, and also have worrying environmental and social impacts. How can we transform those systems to make them more sustainable, inclusive and resilient in response to global change?

This webinar, from 13:00 to 15:30 CEST, invites researchers, experts and grassroots players to compare notes. There will be three sessions, to take stock of the situation in 2025, explore the range of solutions, and discuss how to transform food systems with a view to the 2030 Agenda. The webinar will be in French and English.

Programme 

12:57 Musical opening

13:00 Opening session

• Tanguy Stehelin, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations in Rome;
• Elisabeth Claverie de Saint Martin, CIRAD CEO.

13:15: Session 1 "The state of the world in 2025"

Session moderated by Jean-François Soussana, Chair, French High Council on Climate; International Advisor, INRAE.

• “For a global vision of food security and nutrition. When science informs public policy"     
  Marie Josèphe Amiot-Carlin, Honorary Director of Research, INRAE; High-level panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN), Committee on World Food Security       
• “Global food security: the experience of an interdisciplinary programme to support foresight studies on a global level” 
  Alban Thomas, Director of Research, Grenoble Applied Economics Lab (GAEL), INRAE
• “How many humans will have to be fed in 2050?”
  Bénédicte Gastineau, Demographics Research Fellow, Population-Environment-Development Laboratory (LPED), IRD   
• “Feeding the world in 2025: what has changed in this respect in 15 years?”
  Nicolas Bricas, Food Security Officer, UMR MOISA, CIRAD; holder, UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems

Questions and answers

Animated break

13:50: Session 2 "Solutions for feeding and preserving"

Session moderated by Kenza Bouzoubaa, Young Scientists Group | World Food Forum (FAO)

• “Varietal breeding to address climate change and build sustainable farming systems”
  Carole Caranta, Deputy Director General of Science and Innovation, INRAE
• “Using algorithms to grow better, feed better and protect better”
  Thierry Fourcaud, Deputy Director General in charge of Research and Strategy, CIRAD
• “The agroecological transition in the light of food and environmental challenges: issues for research”
  Laurent Cournac, Director of research, IRD, UMR Eco&Sols; co-leader, research/innovation/education group, Agroecology Coalition
  Ndeye Hélène Diallo Diagne, Researcher at the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA); Co-Director, IESOL international joint laboratory; Technical Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, Senegal   
• “Changing dietary habits: an impossible challenge?”
  Sophie Nicklaus, Scientific Director of Food & Health, INRAE

Questions and answers

Animated break

14:35: Session 3 "Transforming food systems: for more sustainable, inclusive and resilient models"

Session moderated by Eric Verger, nutrition and food science research officer, UMR MoISA, IRD

• “Building food system transitions, or how to (better) articulate objectives, narratives and actions”
  Pierre Janin, Director of Research, UMR Développement et Sociétés, IRD; co-editor-in-chief of the Revue internationale des études du développement
  Eric Joël Fofiri Nzossié, Lecturer in Agricultural and Food Geography at the University of Ngaoundéré (Cameroon) and research associate with UMR 201 "Développement & Societés", IRD
• “How can research in partnership between Africa and Europe (TSARA) help to transform food systems?”
  Marie Schill, TSARA Project leader, INRAE
  Joseph Bassama, Lecturer, Head of the Food Technology Section at Gaston Berger University, Senegal
• “The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable and just food systems”
  Fabrice DeClerck, Chief Science Officer, EAT Foundation; Senior Scientist, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CGIAR

Projection: UNFSS stocktake

Questions and answers 

Animated break

15:15: Prospects

Session moderated by Raoul Mille, Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in Rome

• Stefanos Fotiou, Director, UNFSS Coordination Hub
• Philippe Mauguin, Chair & CEO, INRAE
• Valérie Verdier, Chairwoman of the Board and CEO, IRD

15:35: Musical closure

Chat question moderator: Louise Vitre – World Forum French Chapter

Musical entertainment: Milles & Co

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