Climate Change and Food Security - 27 July 2011
'How to feed the world and save the planet'

Arial image of refugee transit centre in Dolo Ado (Southern Ethiopia),
which is currently overcrowded due to severe drought in the horn of Africa.

The next UNA-UK Young Professionals event will be on the pressing issue of food security. Held in conjunction with Chatham House Under-35s, the event will take place on the 27 July at Chatham House. This event will provide an excellent networking platform for members of both groups.

According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, the global spike in food prices and economic downturn have pushed an additional 115 million people into poverty and hunger. In 2009, the total number of hungry people in the world topped one billion for the first time. Since then, the number has dipped slightly - to 925 million - but the recent sharp increase in food prices may will cause it to rise again.

In addition to addressing the immediate impacts of soaring food prices, we need to act now to strengthen the ability of food producers, especially poor farmers, to withstand future shocks and boost productivity to secure long-term food and nutritional security.

The panellists are:

Tim Gore – Oxfam's climate change policy advisor

Tom MacMillan – Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council

Richard Choularton - Senior Policy Officer on Climate Change at the World Food Programme

Tim Gore is Oxfam's international climate change policy lead. He overseas Oxfam research and advocacy on climate change, and heads the Oxfam policy team at the UNFCCC negotiations. He was previously based in Brussels working as Oxfam's EU policy advisor on climate change, food and agriculture, and prior to that worked for Climate Action Network-Europe, where he co-ordinated European NGO advocacy efforts on the 2008 EU Climate and Energy Package.

Tom MacMillan is executive director of the Food Ethics Council, a charity that provides independent research and advice, acting as an honest broker in controversies about food and farming. He advised the Cabinet Office on its Food Matters report, and is on the BBSRC Science and Society Strategy Panel, a trustee of Sustain (the alliance for better food and farming) and treasurer of the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. He has a PhD in geography.

Please note that this event is only open to YPN members who are also members of UNA-UK (i.e. pay a subscription to UNA-UK and have a membership number).

Click here to become a member

If you are not sure whether you are a UNA-UK member, and for any queries, please contact Madelyn Eads-Dorsey on eads-dorsey@una.org.uk