At ‘Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science’, a ‘Global Nutrition for Growth Compact’ was signed by participants – among them leaders of developing and developed nations, businesses, scientific bodies and civil society groups.
Mary Robinson was in London on Saturday, June 8, to take part in a high-level summit dealing with global nutrition and food security.
At ‘Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science’, a ‘Global Nutrition for Growth Compact’ was signed by participants – among them leaders of developing and developed nations, businesses, scientific bodies and civil society groups.
Mrs Robinson, who spoke at the closing event: ‘Promoting African Agriculture – The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition’, said the world cannot treat nutrition as a stand-alone issue, adding that we must address impacts of climate change on food and nutrition security.
Mrs Robinson also referred to April’s Hunger – Nutrition – Climate Justice Conference, which saw more than 300 delegates, including 100 representatives from grassroots communities, come together in Dublin to participate in a respectful dialogue.
Delegates listened and learned from each other about the effects climate change has on the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to provide food and nutrients for them and their families.
You can read the interactive Conference Report from Hunger – Nutrition – Climate Justice here.
Echoing Mrs Robinson’s comments, HE Joyce Banda, President of Malawi, stressed her concern that the impact of climate change on food and nutrition security had not been met.
“I believe the New Alliance [for Food Security and Nutrition] gives us impetus to champion climate justice,” she told the delegation, before adding, to a round of applause: “African women want climate justice.”
Under the ‘Global Nutrition for Growth Compact’ participants at the summit committed their countries and organisations by 2020 to:
- improving the nutrition of 500 million pregnant women and young children
- reducing the number of children under five who are stunted by an additional 20 million
- saving the lives of at least 1.7 million children by preventing stunting, increasing breastfeeding and better treatment of severe and acute malnutrition
‘Nutrition for Growth’ was co-hosted by the UK Government, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Government of Brazil. The event was held in tandem with the UK’s hosting of the 2013 G8 Summit, to be held in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, later this month. Among the items on the agenda of the conference of world leaders is Food Security.
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