With the theme of “Digital Technology Empowers Global Sustainable Development”, FBAS 2022 is to provide an opportunity to explore the developing digital technological solutions to the achievement of SDGs, especially based on big data. As part of FBAS 2022 programme, we are now calling for a limited number of sessions focusing on the topics of SDG2, SDG6, SDG7, SDG11, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15, Digital Technology and Youth Innovation.

Each session will consist of up to 6 oral presentations with around 15 minutes for each presentation. Please download the Session Proposal Template and submit the proposal to the Forum secretariat (Dr. Aqiang Yang, yangaq@radi.ac.cn) by July 12, 2022. Early proposals are highly encouraged.

Forum topics focused on

SDG2 (Zero Hunger): Developing sustainable food systems

Increasing agricultural productivity and sustainable food production are crucial to help alleviate the perils of hunger. About 800 million people worldwide are undernourished and world hunger appears to be on the rise in recent years. Key challenges are how to develop sustainable agriculture for producing sufficient quantities of highly nutritional food. Developing sustainable food systems requires us to consider every aspect related to the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of agricultural practices. Especially, sufficient attention should be paid to the digital technology securing sustainable protein sources and keeping the reasonable food-available network with less environmental impact. It is also important to seek the new solution based on big data for the growing challenge to provide plant-based meat-like foods, cultured meats, and land-based aquaculture as a means of protein intake.

SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation): Integrated management for water resources

About 2/3 of the global population are threatened by the lack access to safe drinking water. The integrated management of water resources is critical to address and ensure the possible solution for the growing water demands from various industries and users, especially the threats to water security and the potential risks and scarcity due to climate change. Currently, we are facing the complex challenges or difficulties to achieve the clean water and sanitation goals by 2030, including less water availability induced by extreme precipitation events and the pollution of underground water or surface water. We need to accelerate the implementation of integrated water resources management and the deployment of digital solutions built on circular economy models. The bold adaptation measures and sustainable solutions are required for the reasonable solutions combined natural, engineered and technological options. Strong collaboration, technology transfer, exchange of innovative ideas and demonstration become one of the important ways for international partnerships and platforms to achieve SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).

SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): Transitioning to low-carbon energy

The achievement of carbon neutrality needs to develop and deploy decarbonization strategies and relative extensive technological transformations. The share of renewables in final energy consumption increased to 17.5% in 2016. However, it should be highly improved to meet the global target by increasing the share of renewables in transport, industry, heating and cooling. New solutions and policies for modern energy provision are urgently needed to meet the requirement of increasing world population and urbanization. Low-carbon energy strategy will pay attention to how to achieve the integration of digital innovation in the energy system, develop the prosumer business models, and build regulatory frameworks for human and companies to evolve into the zero-carbon era. Reliable access to modern energy services plays important roles in supporting for technology innovation, people healthy, and climate change adaptation, further advance SDGs implementation by making a carbon neutrality roadmap, new technologies within transport sectors, and innovative digital technologies for boosting low-carbon development and climate financing.

SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): Green and resilience city

Currently, about half of humanity live in cities today. The continuous rapid urbanization in the world widely expanded human footprint with the enormous needs or consumption for natural resources. Urbanization processes are usually accompanied by increased pressure on the environment and accelerated demand for basic services, infrastructure, jobs, land, and affordable housing. Building urban resilience is crucial to avoid human, social and economic losses, further improve the urban sustainability by protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk impacts. The people who live in cities already faces the consequences of social-economic fluctuation and natural environment evolution. To address urban resilience and achieve sustainable city, multi-level governance and institutional capacities of local governments play an important role in solving food security, urban environment, air quality, and climate disaster. Digital city with mass sensors’ datasets may achieve comprehensive awareness and management of people and things to provide various intelligent services to supporting technologies for the smart city.

SDG13 (Climate Action): Accelerating climate change mitigation and adaptation

Human activities have caused 1.0℃ of global warming according to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and it would continuously increase in the following decades as greenhouse gas emissions rise. Droughts, floods, heat waves, extreme weather events and sea-level rise will happen in a warming world, and cause great impacts on many countries with more frequent and intense disasters, especially those developing countries. We should explore the support of digital technologies to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation in the future, further seek the close collaboration among government and different organizations to conduct the activities and economic measures for the implementation of adaptation options for the achievement of SDGs.

SDG14 (Life Below Water): Blue innovation for the delivery of the SDGs

Oceans have a huge potential for large scale production of renewable energy (wind, wave, tidal, floating solar, etc.). Oceans is the most important region for climate regulation, and it provide many solutions for sustainable development, such as counterbalance droughts and freshwater shortage by desalination installations, clean shipping for carbon neutral transport system and clean air. However, coastal area also suffers from sea level rises and storms, especially those island countries. Digital technologies become an important driver for economic growth with a clear shift towards innovative and sustainable solutions in the coming years, including energy production and storage, aquaculture, desalination, coastal protection and nature development for ecosystem services.

SDG15 (Life on Land): Sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems

Land ecosystems, forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, provide environmental goods and services for human, meanwhile it also contributes to maintain clean air and water, biodiversity and climate adaptation. The industries about forests and rangelands generate jobs and income with a source of food, medicine and fuel. However, natural resources are threatened by human activities, such as deforestation, biological diversity lose, land degradation and soil erosion. The damage of terrestrial ecosystems has caused the serious impact on surface environment or climate change. To mitigate the influence of ecosystem damage and rational exploitation for natural sources, sustainable measurements or reasonable protection is urgently needed for terrestrial ecosystems. We need promote digital technologies for natural resource management conducted by different countries or organizations, and the alliances supporting terrestrial ecosystem managements ensure a balance between conservation and development action in the world.

Digital Technology: Digital transformation changing the world

The booming of digital technology and innovation opens a new era changing the world, meanwhile, it is also the impeller for the achievement of sustainable development goals by providing us timely and accurate information and flexible analyzing tools. However, the applications of new digital infrastructure (i.e. 5G network, databank, etc.), emerging digital technologies (Big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.), data processing and analysis systems and platforms in facilitating SDGs needs to be further exploited profoundly. We focus on the research frontier of monitoring and evaluation of SDGs, such as Big data for SDGs in global and region scales, decision models for SDGs of food security and poverty reduction, digital economy, resilience urban and settlement, climate change and disaster mitigation, biodiversity to share the experience and achievement of digital technologies in the decoupling, re-coupling and trade-off of SDGs.

Youth Innovation: Sharing for the future

No matter you are a Ms./PhD candidate, a researcher, an employee, or an independent professional working on a breakthrough solution for the SDGs. You will find the open-sharing, inclusive and cooperative platform to present your innovation at the FBAS 2022. We are looking for original and innovative solutions from youth communities that hold great potential for achieving the SDGs, such as SDG2, SDG6, SDG7, SDG11, SDG13, SDG14, and SDG15.