GIES Support FAO OCOP Implementation: Speech at the High-Level Event of Implementation of FAO OCOP Initiative

LIU Chuang

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Abstract: On October 15, 2025, FAO held a high-level event on the implementation of the OCOP (One Country One Priority Product) Initiative at its headquarters in Rome, as part of FAO??s 80^th anniversary celebration. Experts and leaders from across the world shared insights during the high-level event. Professor LIU Chuang was invited to deliver a speech on GIES support FAO OCOP implementation. She introduced how the innovative GIES toolchain works for OCOP implantation and how the open science, free technology transfer and capacity building for Four Betters with triple-win model benefit famers, consumers and environment.

Keywords: FAO; 80^th anniversary; OCOP; GIES; open science; triple-win

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2026.01.02

Dataset Availability Statement:

The video supporting this paper was published and is accessible through the Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository at: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2026.01.04.V1.

Dear Excellences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good day!

I am so proud to be here and would be very happy to share my experience about GIES support FAO OCOP implantation (Figure 1).

We all know, there are abundance of Special Agriculture Products (SAPs) in the world, such as tea in China, quinoa in Bhutan, jackfruit in Bangladesh. Some of them are Geographical Indication (GI) products and some of them are potential GIs.

The challenge is how to capitalize socio- economic benefit of SAPs while balancing and achieving environmental sustainability.

Challenge comes from famers: good agriculture product, but low price in market; beautiful environment, but less development; a lot of famers, but small-scattered-weak businesses.

Figure 1  Professor LIU Chuang delivered her speech at the High-Level Event of OCOP Implementation of FAO 80^th Anniversary ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Challenge comes from market: the dealers always advertise their products are perfect, however, not clear the product??s origin, sometimes mixed good and bad, or even mixed fictitious with genuine (put fish eyes as pearls).

Another challenge comes from consumers: more people need quality products; affordable people have little knowledge how to get them; in many cases, customers do not trust market advertising.

In summary, the issues are: (1) the special agriculture products are not well geo-located; (2) the special geo-bio-eco-socio system which the products of origins are not illustrated clearly and not well-known by consumers; and (3) the intellectual properties or brands of these SAPs have not been established or well protected.

We need solution. One of the solutions is GIES. The full name of GIES is Geographical Indications Environment and Sustainability. It is a comprehensive package or toolchain regarding geographical products and their origin environment traceable and acknowledgeable based on open science principles and big data and internet of things technology.

Geographical indications here include Geographical Indication products, which are already approved by government, and some of them are the potential GIs, including Geographical specific products, Geographical traditional products (Figure 2).

High quality focused on Four Betters: product, nutrition, environment and life with data and knowledge to evaluate in species, quality, appearance, brand, morality, culture aspects (Figure 3).

      Figure 2  Term of GIES products             Figure 3  High quality elements of a GIES case

More important, the GIES is focused on the impact. A successful GIES case is in triple-win model: famers win in richness, consumers win in health, environment win in beautiful sustainability.

GIES has 5 action lines in action, they are science, technology, engineering, management and culture. Science is needed to describe what is the geographical product and why it is good in the special region; we use technology of big data, and Internet of Things to trace its origin, and take each case as an engineering, together with management (particularly standards) and culture. Who do this? We need partners. I appreciate FAO plays leader role of this action, we need local governments, scientists, university professors, communities and private sectors, publishers also. Between the producers and consumers, the GIES provide services of registration and certificates, in this way, we help SAPs to add their brand value and protect its intellectual property.

One of the GIES??s keys is to network these data, information, products and all related elements together, including QR system. Any people in the world can scan the QR code, and then he/she can get all this information equally in anywhere, and at any time. Up to now, there are 27 GIES cases in China. Most of them get income increased, some of them double and triple or even more. Last year, FAO signed MoU on GIES with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR, CAS). ??This agreement between FAO and IGSNRR, CAS will benefit not only the countries where we are working in, but farmers themselves??, Dr. Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General, indicated at the welcoming participants to the signature ceremony.

We promised 3 things, GIES data and knowledge sharing including visibility events, food/trade fair, etc.; free technology transfer including supporting for field application; and provide services of capacity building, including training, field visit and study tour in CAS/China; capacity building in OCOP countries; field capacity building in villages in OCOP countries as well as education program.

Based on the MoU, the international capacity building workshops on technology transfer on GIES for OCOP implementation were co-organized by FAO and IGSNRR, CAS during the last 3 years from 2023?C2025.

l August 2023, 20 focal points from 5 countries and FAO officers participated the event held in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing of China;

l September 2024, 50+ focal point, FAO officers and experts from 22 countries participated the event held in Shanxi, Hubei, Jilin and Beijing of China (Figure 4);

l September 2025, 22 focal point, FAO officers and experts from 12 countries participated the event held Fujian and Beijing of China.

Figure 4  International capacity building workshop on GIES technology free transfer (2024??Beijing, China)

Besides, the hands-on training in Bhutan, Panama and Nepal were very successful held (Figure 5, 6).

In the following years, we will keep going on GIES technology free transfer and capacity building for OCOP implementation and to have the joint actions to enhance the impacts of OCOP GIES products in triple-win model.

Ladies and gentlemen,

GIES is an innovative S&T toolchain. It is technology, but not only, for OCOP, it is accelerator! It can help people to understand OCOP more in their knowledge, to taste OCOP more in their daily life, to feel OCOP more in their culture, and even more, to touch OCOP more in their souls and hearts. I am confidence and sincerely believe and trust: OCOP GIES, we are one!

Thank you!

References

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[5]        FAO. High-level event underscores progress of One Country One Priority Product Initiative [Z/OL].(2025-10-16) [2025-12-05]. https://www.fao.org/one-country-one-priority-product/asia-pacific/news/detail/high-level-event-underscores-progress-of-one-country-one-priority-product-initiative/en.

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[8]        FAO. The Global Action on Green Development of Special Agricultural Products: One Country One Priority Product: Action Plan 2021?C2025 [M/OL]. Rome: FAO, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0608en.

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