The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is currently seeking voluntary members for the renewed Irish Bioeconomy Forum.
Established in October 2020, the Irish Bioeconomy Forum aims to promote, support and advocate for the sustainable development of the bioeconomy in Ireland.
The forum will work to progress a circular economy, climate action and a climate-neutral, sustainable, and innovative agri-food system.
It is part of the formal national consultative structure put in place to support bioeconomy implementation in Ireland.
Bioeconomy forum
The bioeconomy uses renewable, biological resources sourced sustainably from land and sea, such as crops, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, micro-organisms and animals.
It then converts these resources into value-added bio-based products including proteins, feeds, fertilisers, plastics and energy.
The department said that the bioeconomy has the potential to create new, sustainable opportunities for farmers and high-quality, green jobs in rural and coastal areas.
The forum, which is supported by an expert advisory group of academics and researchers, previously published a number of expert reports and contributed directly to the Bioeconomy Action Plan 2023-2025.
“The renewed Irish Bioeconomy Forum will operate until the end of the current Bioeconomy Action Plan timeline, and we hope to bring together forum members on March 4, 2024 for a first meeting,” DAFM said.
Members
Membership of the forum is limited and expressions of interest from “suitably qualified individuals” representing primary producers, industry, community groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), innovation clusters and semi-state bodies can now be made on the department’s website.
The closing date and time for receipt of expressions of interest is 6:00pm on Monday, February 12, 2024.