Hunger · Nutrition · Climate Justice Conference

Key messages for the global development process are outlined in the Hunger ● Nutrition ● Climate Justice multimedia Conference Report

Hunger · Nutrition · Climate Justice (HNCJ) was a conference with a difference. Held in April 2013, the Conference explored the links between climate change, hunger and poor nutrition, and their impact on the world’s most vulnerable people.

Of the 300-plus delegates from 60 countries at Hunger · Nutrition · Climate Justice, 100 were representatives of grassroots communities. They told their stories, and high-level policy makers listened and learned, while informing them of the processes in train for the next steps in global development.

In the Conference Report, the organising partners of Hunger · Nutrition · Climate Justice use a range of multimedia – from videos to weblinks and tweets – to provide a snapshot of the events and discussions that took place during the two-day event.

The report also outlines the Conference’s highlights, its objectives and achievements, the commitments made by representatives of government, policy, business and civil society there, the lessons learned from organising such a unique event and the key messages that came out of vibrant and respectful dialogue between grassroots community representatives and the people whose global policy decisions affect their lives.

Download Hunger – Nutrition – Climate Justice Conference Report (PDF) here 

Watch videos from conference delegates:

• Watch Batkhishig Baival, a researcher at the Nutag Action Research Institute, explain the impacts of climate change on the food security of Mongolian herders. Read her case study here.
• Watch Josephine Castillo, a grassroots community leader and organiser with DAMPA talk about the need for resilience building in Manila, the Philippines. Read her case study here.
• Watch Constance Okollet, a Climate Wise Woman and the Chairperson of the Osukuru United Women’s Network in Eastern Uganda talks about the impacts of climate change on women in her community.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) also supported the event, which opened dialogue and debate on the linked challenges of hunger, nutrition and climate justice, while encouraging and inspiring innovative thinking and solutions.

With the international community beginning to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals – two years before the target date for their achievement – policy discussions are also beginning on the Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 framework for international development.

By bringing together key international policy makers with those who are living with the impacts of climate change and are often the most vulnerable to hunger and under nutrition, the conference was an important first step in enabling a respectful dialogue on the future of development.

In evaluating the conference, Ugandan farmer Constance Okollet said the key messages she took from the conference were: ‘Strengthen partnership – that the smallholder farmer is not ignored. Give them the information about the MDGs and the plans. We are moving away from the dark to light.’

Today nearly one billion people still suffer from hunger, most of them women and children. Under nutrition among mothers and children is the underlying cause of 2.5 million deaths every year.

With the world’s population set to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production will need to increase by 60% just to meet the growing demand. Over the same period climate change, water scarcity and land degradation could reduce food production by one quarter, leading to further increases in the number of people suffering from hunger.

The global challenges of hunger, nutrition and climate justice are linked – so our response also needs to be linked, coherent and consistent. To be credible, the global response must be based on a clear understanding of the rights and the reality of the lives of the people most affected, now and in the future. We need to move away from a business-as-usual approach to development if these global challenges are to be resolved in our lifetimes.

In anticipation of this conference, Mary Robinson; Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore; Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme; and Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium wrote about the need for climate justice in the most vulnerable communities in the world.

You can also read more about hunger, nutrition and climate justice on the websites of Irish Aid and EU2013, the blog of CGIAR CCAFS and the latest WFP Global Food Security Update.

Go to the summary of the event on Storify.

Case Study: The right to food security in a changing Arctic

Case Study: Bangladesh’s Enhancing Resilience programme

Case Study: Getting a seat at the table: fisher folk empowerment for policy change in the Caribbean

Case Study: Linking local agriculture into national policy by studying climate change economics in Colombia

Case Study: Enhancing climate resilience in Ecuador’s Pichincha Province and the Jubones River Basin

Case Study: Harnessing local innovation to improve food security, nutrition and climate resilience in Ethiopia

Case Study: Scaling up an integrated watershed management approach through social protection programmes in Ethiopia: the MERET and PSNP schemes

Case Study: The Rural Resilience Initiative: building a risk management market for poor farmers

Case Study: Empowering a local community to address climate risks and food insecurity in Lower Nyando, Kenya

Case Study: Lessons from Lesotho: how a ‘joined-up’ approach, centred on keyhole gardens, is tackling linked issues of hunger, nutrition and poverty

Case Study: Promoting empowerment and knowledge through smallholder farmers’ associations in Malawi

Case Study: Less hunger, better health and more wealth: the benefits of knowledge sharing in Malawi’s Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato project

Case Study: Seeds for change: a certified seed project in Malawi is boosting local incomes and supporting emerging national agricultural policy

Case Study: Food security in the face of climate risks – Mongolian herders’ experiences

Case Study: Biogas for climate justice: a story of change in Nepal

Case Study: Women’s land rights in a changing climate: a case study from Maradi, Niger

Case Study: Building resilient cities from the community up: lessons from Manila

Case Study: Communicating seasonal forecasts to farmers in Kaffrine, Senegal for better agricultural management

NIGER Women working on their agricultural land near the village of Mamoury, acquired through the local land convention (Pic by Alima Mamadou)
NIGER Nana Moumouni lives in Garan Mahaman and uses improved seeds that produce crops faster (Pic by Alima Mamadou)
MONGOLIA Bayarmaa Baljinnyam's youngest daughter with the family's goat herd
MONGOLIA Bayarmaa Baljinnyam's family play shagai, a traditional game using bones.
Wayuu villagers in Pessuapa, Colombia, make use of their local, ever-diminishing watering hole. Over the past years climate change has forced water shortages, particularly severe in the indigenous Wayuuís arid territory in northeast Colombia.
ARCTIC Inuit view food security as a right that encompasses the cultural and environmental aspects of their lives (Photo Sara Statham, Government of Nunavut)
Rachael Raykumari, India
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Rachael fifth from left
HNCJ Day 2 - Press Conference
Former US President Al Gore
Al Gore Arrival
Al Gore
Tánaiste Gilmore, Mary Robsinson, Minister Costello, Ertharin Cousin (WFP, Executive Director) and Frank Rijsberman (CEO, CGIAR)
President Higgins speaks at opening session of HNCJ 2013
Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice
Mary Robinson with Batkhishig Baival & Bayarmaa Baljinnyam, herders from Mongolia, at the #HNCJ workshop this morning
Farmers open the eyes of policy-makers at dynamic learning circles. Listening and learning
Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, UN World Food Programme
Dolsie Kalo of Vanuatu talks how she is  empowered to act for a food secure future amid climate risks

Mary Robinson held a keynote speech at the Hunger – Nutrition – Climate Justice Conference:

“The devastating effects that climate change has on the food crisis facing millions of people in the developing world is clear to see in the unpredictable weather patterns experienced across the globe, destroying crops, increasing food prices and pushing millions into poverty and hunger,” Mrs Robinson said.

“By holding this conference, we will give voice to those who all too often go unheard – the poorest and most vulnerable. Listening to their experiences and learning from their actions is essential in building solutions that will have a clear and definite effect to their daily lives.

“My four grandchildren will be in their forties in 2050, and will share the world with nine billion others. How will they all look back on this vital period, when it will be clear to them that we had the opportunity to take the right course by the end of 2015? How will we be judged – not in the long term – but in only 37 years?

“Will we stand accused of shirking responsibility or will we grasp the opportunity to set a new and viable course for humanity?”

Download Mary Robinson’s full Keynote Speech (PDF) here

Read the Official Opening Remarks of President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins

Read the Closing Remarks by Tánaiste and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore TD

Read Mary Robinson’s Outlining of the Key Messages from HNCJ