China-Norway collaboration on global challenges

Dr Jihong Liu Clarke, who leads NIBIO’s collaboration with China, has played a crucial role in establishing scientific partnerships with Chinese research institutes. She describes the anniversary as a major achievement but also the beginning of a new chapter in NIBIO’s research cooperation with China.

According to Clarke, there will be a stronger focus on converting wastes to valuable products and the need for recycling and reuse in the future. Climate change and adaptation have also become more urgent.

One Health is another area that will play an important role in the collaboration between China and NIBIO. This concept recognises that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are interconnected, and that cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation is necessary to ensure overall health.

So far, the focus has been on the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but it will be important to develop the One Health approach to include plant health, food security, and environmental impacts.

"It is important to emphasise that while there are new challenges, there are also new opportunities," Dr Clarke points out.

The governments of Norway and China have signed a new three-year cooperation agreement, with NIBIO playing a key role in its implementation.

"In the future, we need to produce more food without using more land while reducing environmental impact and the use of natural resources. This must be done under increasingly challenging growing conditions, water shortages, and more frequent extreme weather events," says Per Stålnacke, Director of Research at NIBIO. He can see no other solution to addressing global challenges.

"That is why we must work together," he adds.