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Dublin hosts major conference on hunger, nutrition and climate justice

On 15-16 April this year, the Government of Ireland, as part of Ireland’s EU Presidency, and the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice co-hosted a major international conference in Dublin Castle on the inter-linkages between hunger, nutrition and climate justice.

The conference, a highlight of Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union (EU), was organised closely with the support of the UN World Food Programme and CGIAR’s Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme. It took a new approach in examining the intersection between food and nutrition security and climate change .

Over 100 representatives of grassroots organisations and local communities were sponsored to participate and engage in a dialogue with key international policy makers and thought leaders on hunger, nutrition and climate change.

The conference commenced with a powerful opening address by Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins, and closed with a poignant and powerful keynote speech by former U.S. Vice-President, Al Gore.

One of the most memorable sentiments expressed throughout the conference was summed up by Ms Esther Jabesi from Malawi. She said, to the policy makers in the room, “you have to listen to me because I have experience – what I know isn’t written in your papers!”
 

KEY MESSAGES

One billion people still live in extreme poverty and 870 million people are undernourished. Climate change is a multiplier of hunger and undernutrition, intensifying the effects on the poorest and most vulnerable communities across the globe.

In moving towards a solutions, the conference dialogue highlighted some key messages:

  • local people must have a real say in the policy debate on the post-2015 process.
  • we need to invest more effectively in knowledge, education and science.
  • we need to take action to empower poor households, and especially women to engage in decision making.
  • we need to recognise that, while the poor in developing countries have had no option but to adapt to climate change in order to survive, we in the developed world have not yet identified a similarly compelling reason to change our consumption and production patterns.
Conference report cover

Multimedia and documentation are available on the conference website: www.eu2013.ie/events/event-items/hncj