One of the key provisions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to achieve food security. The negative impact of climate change on the food system could put the implementation of this goal, as well as all efforts to ensure sustainable and healthy food access for the population, at risk. Like in most parts of the world, drought, land degradation and desertification are pressing issues in Azerbaijan. This was stated by Academician Irada Huseynova, Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Director General of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the Ministry of Science and Education, at a side event held at the COP29 climate conference on the topic "Science and Innovation for Low-Emission and Sustainable Food Systems".

The academician said: “Scientists are being forced to think critically and find solutions to the present issues. Contribution to food and biological safety through the application of modern approaches has always been the focus of the Division of Biology and Medical Sciences of ANAS, which I lead. I would like to mention two of the priority areas identified by the Division for research in the country: "Research, restoration, protection, efficient use of biodiversity, soil and water resources using modern approaches, creation of electronic databases and maps" and "Molecular-genetic and physicochemical foundations of biological processes, genome, proteome and metabolome studies, development of fundamental and applied foundations of new bio-, nano- and post-genomic technologies."

 ICARDA's technical support played an important role in the creation of the National Plant Genebank at the Institute of Genetic Resources, initiated by Academician Jalal Aliyev. Currently, in this institute, as well as in the Institutes of Agriculture, Fruit and Tea Growing, Vegetable Growing, etc., thousands of plant samples that bear traits of adaptability to local soil and climatic conditions, including wild ancestors of cultivated plants and varieties of folk selection, are collected, protected, studied and recommendations are made. By effectively using all this genetic diversity, over the past 6-7 years, more than 70 tolerant varieties have been created and regionalized by the country's scientists.

Another issue is the application of the most modern agricultural technologies. With the support of FAO and CGIAR centers, several cultivation and irrigation, plant protection, and soil improvement technologies have been introduced to the country. Scientific research institutions, the Azerbaijan State Agrarian University, and agro-holdings have been involved in their research and testing processes under local conditions. Since 2020, an Electronic Agricultural Information System has been created in the country, which serves to ensure the efficiency of water and land use.

Digitalization and other high technologies in the agro-food system research help to ensure timely adaptation to rapidly changing climate and soil conditions. At the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the MSE AR, which I lead, the results of complex comparative analysis of digital phenomics, genomics, molecular, biochemical, morpho-physiological and biophysical parameters with bioinformatics programs have already been directly applied in the creation of tolerant varieties.

Today, in developed countries of the world, large-scale genetic analyses are already being conducted in studies on the genetic "architecture" of multicomplex traits such as tolerance. In this regard, in our recent studies, GWAS (genome-wide association studies) - an analysis of the determination of associations with valuable traits across the entire genome - was carried out in order to identify genetic traces of economically important multicomplex traits with high accuracy in the wheat genome. For this, 188 bread wheat genotypes were studied using a 25k SNP-Array-Chip. Using digital phenotyping technology, the physiological state of plants was assessed non-invasively (based on the calculation of 25 parameters). Using the RNAseq method, which is considered to be the most modern transcriptome analysis tool, transcriptomes induced by drought, heat and salt stresses were analyzed in stress-tolerant and sensitive wheat genotypes.

The institute has also achieved significant success in the research, diagnostics, and development of recommendations for combating plant diseases that are relevant to the country.

An important scientific direction in terms of both agricultural sustainability and carbon emissions is a deeper study of photosynthesis. Our institute also has extensive experience in this area. More than 70 years ago, the father of the “green revolution” in Azerbaijan, academician Jalal Aliyev, developed the principles that determine the high productivity of an ideal wheat plant type through a comprehensive study of photosynthesis as the theoretical basis of productivity processes. These studies covered all processes, from the molecular-genetic level to the whole plant and cropping. Based on the results obtained, the short, productive varieties created by the great scientist played a decisive role in ensuring food security in the country.

Irada Huseynova expressed her confidence that investments in science and innovation will soon yield significant and long-term benefits.