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| Njie BAJ Gambia Director of Programmes |
Mamadou
Edrisa Njie, the director of Programmes at Biodiversity Action
Journalists The Gambia (BAJ Gambia), a professional media advocacy and
research organisation on Monday left Banjul for France, at the
invitation of the organising committee of the 3rd International
Conference on Biodiversity and United Nations Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
This
conference is the third in a series, organised by the French CNRS
Institut Ecologie et Environment (InEE) and the German Leibniz
Association (WGL) and will take place from 29th to 31st October, 2014 in
Aix-en-Provence in France.
The conference will focus on the theme “Biodiversity and Food Security, from trade-offs synergies.”
The
conference will be officially opened with a keynote presentation, to be
delivered by Professor José Sarukhán, UNAM, México, while Professor
Jacqueline McGlade, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya will officially close the
event.
However,
the purpose of the conference is to discuss the interdependencies
between biodiversity and food security, under ecological, economic and
societal challenges, as well as strengthen a holistic understanding of
the related topics, in a bid to overcome trade-offs by developing
synergies.
The
conference, according to organisers, will cover a range of topics in
the biodiversity-food security nexus, including impacts of diet change
on human and nature.
Speaking
to reporters shortly before his departure, Njie said, the conference is
intended for a broad and multi-disciplinary community of scientists
from basic and applied researchers, involving policy-makers and other
stakeholders concerned with various fields of relevant biodiversity and
food security.
He
stated that it is expected that the conference will raise the profile
of societally-relevant on biodiversity research in the participating
institutions, as well as opening for new partnerships between German and
French scientists.
According
to him, the conference will also address relevant cross-cutting issues,
including behavioural change of humans, due to a growing understanding
of sustainability and an increasing sense of responsibility for nature;
technical improvement and development for an effective and sustainable
use of resources, as well as increase the use of functional food that
seeks to influence major health-related parameters in consumers in a
long-term manner.
He
pointed out that new concepts of health, including the health of
humans, animals and ecosystems; development of a science-policy
interface (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services-IPBES), including all major stakeholders will all be pertinent
topics during the conference.
“I
am delighted to attend such a high- profile conference that will gather
scientists around the world and I am sure that attending this
conference would strongly enrich my future journalism reporting and help
me in my prospective career.”
According
to him, attending the conference will be a great opportunity for him to
get in touch with scientists, as a journalist cum blogger.
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