AGROECOLOGY AND CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY

Agroecology involves a transdisciplinary scientific approach that attempts to

conduct holistic research of the interrelations among the agronomic, biophysical, ecological, social, cultural, economic and political components of agroecosystems. It integrates three dimensions, as a research discipline: (i) the first of

these is of a technical-productive nature and focuses on the design of agroecosystems, with Ecology as a scientific reference framework and in harmony with

peasant knowledge; ii) a second dimension addresses the cultural and socioeconomic analysis of the agro-food system from a territorial perspective; and iii)

a third political dimension, food sovereignty, attempts to reinterpret the analysis of power (economic, decisional, etc.) in the agro-food system. The Circular

Bioeconomy, which results from a symbiosis between Ecology and Economy,

adopts a series of principles that it shares with Agroecology: using renewable

resources, maximising efficiency in the use of resources and maximum possible reutilisation of waste.

A methodology produced by a panel of experts specifies and defines the challenges to which Agroecology and the Circular Bioeconomy must respond in

the near future. These challenges are classified in six main axes: i) the design

of sustainable agroecosystems at landscape scale; ii) Agroecology and Climate Action; iii) Circular Bioeconomy in agro-food systems; iv) Agroecology and

promotion of biodiversity; v) co-production and dissemination of agroecological knowledge; vi) agroecological local food systems and upscaling.

There exists a need to promote the transdisciplinary confluence of researchers specialised in the different areas pertaining to the Environmental, Agronomic, Food and Social Sciences, in order to address the current socioeconomic and environmental issues relating to agriculture and sustainable food

production. At the present time, the CSIC avails of no institute or department

specialised in Agroecology or in the Circular Bioeconomy, following the disappearance in 2010 of the Agroecology Dept. of the former Centre of Environmental Sciences of Madrid. Nonetheless, with regard to the challenges put

forward, the institution does avail of groups and experts in different fields who

could work in coordinated research teams in Agroecology and the Circular Bioeconomy, if a nexus were to exist for scientific articulation at the platform,

programme or project levels