Media advisory: Co-ordinator of UN high-level task force to open McGill Food Security Conference
Public forum will include launch of the McGill Institute on
Global Food Security
Dr. David Nabarro, Assistant Secretary-General at the United
Nations and co-ordinator of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Task
Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, will deliver the keynote
address at the opening evening of the Third McGill
Conference on Global Food Security on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 5
p.m., at Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield St. in Montreal.
Dr. Nabarro will offer a global perspective on prospects for food
and nutrition security as he presents the work of the task force,
established in 2008 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to promote a
comprehensive and unified response to the challenge of achieving
global food security. The task force brings together the heads of
the UN specialized agencies, funds and programmes, as well as
relevant parts of the UN Secretariat, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development and the World Trade
Organization.
The opening evening of the conference will also include the
official launch of the McGill Institute on Global Food Security. An
initiative of McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, as is the annual conference, this permanent forum is
aimed at raising awareness about the scope of the challenges to
food security worldwide, training the next generation of
researchers who will tackle these problems and advancing research
in areas linked to food security.
Discussions will continue on Oct. 20 and 21 at
McGill’s New Residence Hall as representatives from developing
countries, international research centres, NGOs and government come
together to focus this year on two crucial issues: water
management and malnutrition.
“There are about 600 million people living in semi-arid regions in
sub-Saharan Africa or Asia where restricted access to water limits
food production potential. We need to have a dialogue to see the
magnitude of the problem and come up with potential solutions,”
said Prof. Chandra Madramootoo, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, 㽶Ƶ. “Similarly, we put a
lot of emphasis on grain and cereal production in previous years.
We need to have a closer look at the crops that give people the
nutritional diversity that will satisfy their nutrient
needs.”
WHAT:
McGill Conference on Global Food Security
WHEN:
Oct. 19, 20 and 21, 2010
WHERE: New
Residence Hall, 㽶Ƶ (3625 avenue du Parc,
Montreal)
Public Lecture (October 19, 5 p.m.)
Symposia Auditorium, Centre Mont-Royal
2200 Mansfield St., Montreal
For more information on the program of the conference, please
visit:
/globalfoodsecurity/program/
For more information on the speakers, please visit:
/globalfoodsecurity/speakers/
About 㽶Ƶ
Founded in Montreal, Que., in 1821, is Canada’s leading
post-secondary institution. It has two campuses, 11 faculties, 10
professional schools, 300 programs of study and more than 35,000
students, including 8,300 graduate students. McGill attracts
students from more than 135 countries around the world. Almost half
of McGill students claim a first language other than English –
including 6,000 francophones – with more than 6,800 international
students making up almost 20 per cent of the student body.