FAO rolls out new initiatives to include and promote entrepreneurial youth

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced three initiatives to help enterprising youth in the field of One Health, and outlined the three pillars undergirding the integrated approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu announced the initiatives during opening remarks at “Youth Calls on the World: One Planet, One Health, One Generation in Action,” a special event during the One Health summit here.

“Young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow, you are the innovators of today,” he said, declaring that the era of top-down discussions was over.

FAO will in September convene the FAO Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems, featuring a Global Youth Forum, and later at the World Food Forum 2026 will launch the first global youth-led platform on One Health in Agrifood Systems.

Lastly, FAO is joining partners at the World Food Forum and with Nanjing Agriculture University, to sponsor the One Health Prize for Transformative Research Challenge, which aims to empower and help fund teams of young academics to advance applied research toward real-world agrifood solutions.

The One Health Summit brings together heads of state and governments, researchers and others able to contribute to a unified approach to public health in which the interactions between humans, their environments, and the plants and animals they rely on for food are highlighted.

The summit will focus on the main factors contributing to infectious and non/communicable diseases, in particular on zoonotic reservoirs and vectors, antimicrobial resistance, sustainable food systems and exposure to pollutants. Director-General Qu mapped three pillars he deemed critical for youth engagement: Action through innovation; action through advocacy and awareness, and action through collaboration.

Numerous technological opportunities exist in the One Health space, and storytelling skills are required to make sure everyone understands the interdependencies between the human, animal and plant worlds. One Health approach “requires veterinarians to talk to economists, and plant scientists to work with public health officials,” Qu said.FAO’s youth initiatives are part of its effort to establish networks allowing the world’s young adults to build bridges across sectors and borders, he added.

Role of science

The Director-General also made closing comments at a scientific panel at the One Health summit, offering robust support for the tools and methods of sciences while insisting they be translated into concrete policies, action and real impact on the ground.

He praised efforts to promote digital innovation and interoperability as ways to overcome the often fragmentary nature of scientific evidence.

He noted that FAO has several science-based normative tools to support a transition towards sustainable agrifood systems and, in particular, to tackle the challenge of pollutants, such as the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management and the Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Sustainable Use and Management of Plastics in Agriculture.

During his visit FAO’s Director-General also held a discussion with Philippe Baptiste France’s Minister for Higher Education and Research, focusing on the platforms established by FAO to collect data, particularly data useful for early warning systems. Both parties suggested initial ideas for collaboration between FAO and the Ministry.