Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020:

A 2020 Vision Conference Will Look for Answers

Food insecurity remains a global threat and a humanitarian tragedy. Some 800 million people--almost one-eighth of humanity--lack enough food to lead healthy, productive lives. This gathering is a valuable opportunity to share information and ideas on why hunger persists, the most important forces influencing the prospects for food security in the next two decades, and how best to eliminate hunger once and for all.

Sessions at the conference will address the many facets of the problem of food insecurity, ranging from globalization and new technologies to water constraints and climate change. Other sessions will focus on empowering women, making governance work for food security, identifying changes in population and nutrition, and many other topics.

Speakers will include Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, United Kingdom; Poul Nielson, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid; Ian Johnson, Chairman, CGIAR, and Vice President, World Bank; Sartaj Aziz, former Finance Minister and Foreign Minister, Pakistan; Michael Lipton, Research Professor of Economics, Sussex University; Jules Pretty, Professor at the Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex; Cynthia Rosenzweig, Research Agronomist at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration--Institute for Space Studies; Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda; and many others. Johannes Rau, President of Germany, will open the meeting. In addition to taking part in discussions following each session, all participants can provide immediate feedback via interactive digital technology on key issues raised by the speakers.

Associated with the conference are two competitions for youth--a poster contest and a writing contest--that will reveal how young people around the world see the problem of hunger and what solutions they suggest.

IFPRI is organizing this conference in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development through the German Foundation for International Development and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation and with cosponsorship from Aventis CropScience, CARE, Cargill, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, EuronAid, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, Syngenta, and World Vision International.

There is no fee for the conference, but registration is required. To learn more, go to www.ifpri.org/2020conference or write to Ms. Simone Hill-Lee at s.hill-lee@cgiar.org.

Download entire newsletter:
(PDF 255K) Adobe Acrobat 3.0 or above required.