News From : DagangHalal.com (21 Oct 2013)
London, 17 October 2013: More than 300 high profile delegates from NGOs, businesses, government and UN organisations are set to convene at the AIDF Food Security Summit in Bangkok this November exchanging innovative and sustainable solutions for improving food, agriculture and nutrition security in the Asia and Pacific region.
Nutrition security in Asia Pacific remains a serious problem. Despite promising advances, for example in the field of food fortification, over 700 million people in Asia Pacific still live in poverty (defined as living on less than $1.25 a day). Vitamin A deficiency remains a grave threat to human health and in some countries in the Asia and Pacific region child stunting rates are higher than 40%.
Food insecurity can lead to child underdevelopment, starvation and often death. The resulting weakening of the population also has far-reaching repercussions on a country’s economic performance and global standing, making it extremely difficult for these countries to develop to their full potential. Significant progress in tackling food security has already been made in Asia, however many different factors are accentuating the problem today. Rapidly rising populations combined with increased consumerism and consumption is putting immense strain on food supplies in Asia and the Pacific. IFAD predicts that food production in developing countries will need to increase by 60% by 2050 in order to satisfy demand. Furthermore ineffective farming methods and the negative effects of climate change inflate the problem; up to 40% of the world’s arable land has already suffered the adverse effects of climate change, which include soil erosion, flooding and droughts.
Innovations and developments relating to nutrition are fundamental for the successful alleviation of poverty in the region. In response to this UNESCAP (United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) is hosting the AIDF Food Security: Asia 2013 summit on the 26th and 27th of November. Over 300 key practitioners will meet in Bangkok to discuss the issues surrounding nutrition in Asia and the Pacific and showcase innovative developments in this field. High level delegates include business leaders, sector experts, investors, government ministers and representatives from NGOs and UN bodies.
Day one of the summit in particular focuses on nutrition, discussing latest trends and research in food fortification, child nutrition and micronutrient malnutrition. Leading GMOs such as Monsanto and Sygenta will be sharing their latest innovations, and panellists will be debating the key issues of concern. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), malnutrition is responsible for the deaths of approximately 3.3 million children under the age of five each year. Nomindelger Bayasgalanbat, Regional Nutrition Officer at the FAO and Dr. Rajan Sankar, Senior Advisor South Asia at GAIN, are debating child malnutrition and its possible solutions at the AIDF Food Security summit. Additionally the expert speaker panel also addresses sustainable innovations in the field of agriculture, looking at hybrid rice, seed technology, and crop protection and debates how these developments can be achieved in a sustainable way.
AIDF has announced exciting keynote presentations by the Deputy Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP, Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, who is sharing his extensive knowledge gained from directing UNDP’s Tokyo Office and working for UNDP all over the world, and Katinka Weinberger, a leading Agricultural Economist who currently serves as head of ESCAP’s Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture.
Commenting on the upcoming summit, Dr. Andrew Jackson said,”The AIDF summit is a welcome step in addressing this very major problem; food insecurity is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, threats to the successful escape from poverty for millions of people in the Asia Pacific regions”, he added,”there is great hope that the summit will really push for change and force key practitioners to readdress the issue and come up with effective solutions.”
Hiroyuki Honuma, Assistant Director General of FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and Pacific added,”This forum is very important to us as it is an arena for both UN Staff and citizens to discuss our common issues and find solutions.”
Visit www.aidforumonline.org to register for the event and to find out more details.
Contact details
Agnes Gradzewicz | Head of Marketing | AIDF
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7871 0123 ext. 242