Food and nutrition experts and young researchers will convene at the BCFN fifth International Forum on Food and Nutrition in Milan November 26-27th to discuss the current challenges faced in food and agriculture.
At the forum, young finalists of the 2013 BCFN Young Earth Solutions! competition will present their ideas for achieving a sustainable agricultural and food system. The forum will also host a comprehensive debate on contemporary global and sustainability food-related issues, including the management of natural resources (particularly water), supply chain sustainability, and food waste.
Experts participating in the debate will include:
Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson, the co-founders of Food Tank: The Food Think Tank.
Mathis Wackernagel, the President of the Global Footprint Network. Wackernagel’s work focuses on spreading awareness about the limits of and developing metrics for sustainability. With Professor William Rees of University of British Colombia, he pioneered the concept of the “ecological footprint”, which serves as an instrument that places ecological limits at the center of all decision-making.
Tim Lang, a professor of Food Policy at the City University’s Centre for Food Policy, has served as a food sustainability and health advisor to a number of national and international bodies. Lang has been active in research and debate about food policy– nutrition, inequalities, sustainability– for the last 37 years.
Edward Mukiibi, the founder and CEO of Developing Innovations in School and Community Cultivation. Mukiibi works to cultivate youth participation and interest in agriculture and to teach them to produce safe and healthy food. He also works with organic small-scale farmers in Africa to develop sustainable and innovative solutions to problems facing farming communities. Mukiibi currently coordinates the Slow Food: A Thousand Gardens in Africa Project in Uganda.
Sithembile Ndema Mwamakamba, program manager of the Women Accessing Realigned Markets (WARM) project under the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). Her work centers on strengthening the capacity of youth and women farmers to engage with policy-makers and advocate for better agricultural policy development in Africa. Mwamakamba currently coordinates nine country case studies on current and emerging youth agricultural policies and initiatives.
