Speech at the Nutramara Conference
25th April 2012
Dia Dhaoibh a chairde, is mór an onóir agus pleisúir dom bheith anseo inniu.
I am delighted to be able to join you all here today in Castleknock, not far from Áras an Úachtaráin, on the opening day of the NutraMara Conference. I’d like to thank Professor Gerry Boyle, Director of Teagasc for his kind invitation to open today’s conference. It is my great pleasure to welcome such a distinguished international group of scientists, academics and representatives from industry to Ireland.
I said in my inauguration speech that I would encourage creative citizenship: creativity not limited to the artistic or aesthetic aspects of our lives, but creativity in research, in innovation and tradition, creative in how we do business, creative in our supports for young people and creative in how we relate to one another and to our environment. Today’s conference is an opportunity to celebrate the success of a creative venture , to share knowledge on the scientific endeavours of our marine food research community and for us to hear about some remarkable work going on across the globe in this innovative area of research. Tugtar deis dúinn ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar fhiontar cruthaitheach ag an gcomhdháil seo inniu. Tugtar deis dúinn eolas a roinnt maidir le hobair eolaíoch na ndaoine sa réimse taighde a bhaineann le bia na mara agus tugtar deis dúinn scéalta a chloisteáil maidir le hobair iontach atá ar siúl ar fud an domhain sa réimse taighde spéisiúil seo.
This is a very exciting year for us here in Ireland. Dublin has been chosen to host Europe’s largest science conference, ESOF 2012 (Euroscience Open Forum), from 11-15 July. To celebrate this prestigious international event, Dublin has been declared the City of Science for 2012. The Dublin City of Science 2012 festival is a year-long celebration of science with over 160 events which will showcase the best of Irish culture, arts and science. And the Nutramara Conference is one of these exciting events.
Nutramara – the Marine Functional Foods Research Initiative - is a collaborative research programme, involving as it does, research organisations from both north and south of the border. I am aware of its objectives which include the creation of a strong, interdisciplinary research capacity, capable of exploiting marine biodiversity as a source of materials for use in functional foods.
I would like to congratulate the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Marine Institute for their leadership in developing this collaboration: this strong multidisciplinary research team, of 30 researchers from 7 research institutions, is working together for the benefit of the research community, the marine and food industry and of course for the consumer. The programme is indicative of what can happen when two historically separate research groups – one in marine and one in food – work together towards a common goal.
Oceans and seas cover around 70 percent the world’s surface, and much of this vast space remains largely unexplored. The real map of Ireland 1 reveals that with 220 million acres of Irish marine resource, Ireland has one of the largest seabed territories in Europe. Ireland’s Agri-Food and Fisheries sector is our largest indigenous industry. It employs around 135,000 people, has a gross output of €22 billion and accounts for 60 percent of exports by indigenous firms. Ireland’s marine sector – comprising fisheries, seaweed, off-shore oil and gas, marine biotechnology, shipping and transport, renewable ocean energy and marine ICT - is valued at €3 billion and supports 44,000 jobs. Nutramara will make a significant contribution to exploiting this resource in a more sustainable way.
The world’s population will increase from 7 billion today to 9 billion by 2050 and with this global food supply will need to more than double. We will need to achieve this increased production under increasingly tight water and land constraints.2 To do this successfully we must reconcile these urgent goals: the achievement of global food security with the safeguarding of biodiversity and protection of our environment.
The challenge will continue to be finding ways to increase production with fewer resources. It is essential that we understand that sustainable development is not a set of problems to be solved, but as John Crowley of UNESCO tells us “an enduring condition to be lived with.” 3 The marine sector has an important role in realising the innovative use of biological resources to ensure sustainable food production to meet our needs.
Seafood is a valuable source of protein which would meet many of the formative needs of the increasing populations of both the developed and the developing world. And Ireland is in a very strong position to provide this global population with high quality safe seafood which our significant marine and coastal waters yield.
Ireland has become internationally recognised for research in food and in the marine areas. We have built an infrastructure – both physical and human – which has allowed us to collaborate and also compete with some of the best in the world in our field.
There is no doubt either but that we have a highly educated human resource in Ireland and it is encouraging to see that we are collaborating with the brightest minds beyond our shores. However, we must continue to support our scientific community to ensure that our industry and our economy can reap the fruits of these investments now and into the future. Indeed, the Irish Government has recently launched the report of the National Research Prioritisation Steering Group4 and I am delighted that many of the identified priorities are aligned to the marine sector.
Níl dabht ar bith ann ach go bhfuil daonra ardcháilithe againn in Éirinn agus is ábhar misnigh é go bhfuilimid ag obair le daoine eile den scoth thar lear. Mar sin féin ní mór dúinn tacaíocht leanúnach a chur ar fáil don phobal eolaíoch ionas go mbaineann ár dtionsclaíocht agus ár ngeilleagar an leas is fearr as na hinfheistíochtaí seo sa lá atá inniu ann agus sa todhchaí. Seoladh tuarascáil an Ghrúpa Stiúrtha Náisiúnta um Beartú Tosaíochtaí Taighde (National Research Prioritisation Steering Group5) ag Rialtas na hÉireann le déanaí agus tá áthas an domhain orm go mbaineann a lán de na tosaíochtaí sa tuarascáil le hearnáil na mara.
Your conference programme is full of inspiring and exciting talks by researchers and industry from the discovery of bioactive components in marine resources to the use of by-products from the marine processing sector and all the while adding value to the output of our incredible marine resource.
I would also like to commend the Nutramara consortium for their outreach activities with the public and with young people in our schools in particular. Bringing science to society is extremely important if we are to fully realise the value of the investments that the Irish Government has made in building a significant research capacity, capability and critical mass in Irish research organisations. Over the last decade, Ireland’s capacity in marine related research has exponentially grown on the back of public and private sector investments of €380 million which today drives research and innovation activity and has enhanced Ireland’s marine research infrastructure.
Nationally, Food Harvest 2020 – the vision for our agri-food and fisheries sector - has set very ambitious targets - to increase the value of primary output in the marine sector by €1.5 billion; to increase the value-added in the sector by €3 billion and to increase exports to €12 billion per annum. It is through ambitious targets such as these that we can move forward towards a vibrant, innovative, competitive and sustainable economy.
At a European level, Ireland has been to the fore in contributing to the development of European Marine Policy. In 2007 the European Union adopted an Integrated Maritime Policy, known as the “Blue Book”, which provides a coherent approach to a range of maritime issues: spatial planning; integrated surveillance, marine knowledge; blue growth and sea basin strategies.
A key feature of the Integrated Maritime Policy work programme for 2012 includes proposed actions across these priority areas. A fundamental theme of “blue growth” projects – projects which target smart, sustainable and inclusive growth from oceans, seas and coasts - is that the oceans, seas and coasts will play a pivotal role in addressing many of the social and economic challenges faced by Europe and the rest of the world.
The European Commission recently adopted the Communication “Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe” 6 which is designed to shift the European economy from one that relies heavily on petroleum towards one that makes greater and more sustainable use of renewable resources – in short their proposal is to move to a Bioeconomy.
This means an economy that uses biological resources from the land and from the sea as well as waste, as inputs for food and feed, industrial and energy production. In the Commission’s strategy, there are three key aspects: developing new technologies and processes; developing markets and competitiveness; and drawing policymakers and stakeholders closer together.
Nutramara is one of Ireland’s flagship initiatives that can be linked to this Strategic approach to managing the vulnerable resources of our world, in a more sustainable manner.
Innovation based on creative original thinking is the key to unlocking the future economic potential of the global marine territories. However, this has to be done though the adoption of approaches that are sustainable - addressing the world’s resource, climate and environmental challenges; inclusive - providing employment opportunities and promoting full participation; and with the full support of local, regional, national, EU and international-level policies.
While technology is an important part of the solution, UNESCO tells us that ultimately, the solution lies in better governance to ensure competing demands between the water, agriculture and energy sector.7 The partners involved in this initiative can play a leading role in demonstrating the interdisciplinary approach to problem solving and policy making to ensure that gains in one area are not at the expense of our shared global goals of sustainable development.
In conclusion, I wish to thank you again for your invitation to open this conference. I wish you well in your work and I encourage you to continue strengthening your networks both within Ireland and beyond. We will only build a strong global bioeconomy through sharing of experiences and challenging each other on our approaches and ideas. I am sure that you will derive great benefit and inspiration from the interaction and cross fertilisation of ideas that will take place over these two days.
1 Source: http://www.marine.ie/home/community/education/lessonplans/TheRealMapofIrelandIrelandsMarineResource.htm
2 Centre for Strategic & International Studies (2011) Global Food Security Project
3 UNESCO (2012) Social science under pressure, www.unesco.org
4 http://www.forfas.ie/publications/featuredpublications/title,8958,en.php
5 http://www.forfas.ie/publications/featuredpublications/title,8958,en.php
6 http://ec.europa.eu/reserach/bioeconomy/index_en.htm
7 UNESCO (2012) A World of Science, Vol 10 No 2, April – June 2012