U.S. Government Participates in Dublin Conferences Highlighting Hunger and Nutrition

U.S. Department of State Special Representative for Global Food Security Jonathan Shrier participated in a high-level conference on “Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice” held at Dublin Castle from April 15–16. The event was co-hosted by the Government of Ireland and the Mary Robinson Foundation in partnership with the World Food Program and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

USAID Bureau for Food Security Chief Scientist Julie Howard was also in Dublin from April 11–12 to moderate the “Food Security Futures: Research Priorities for the 21^st Century” workshop convened by CGIAR and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which developed recommendations for discussion at the high-level conference.

The events brought together key policy makers and global leaders, civil society representatives, and people and practitioners who face food insecurity and undernutrition to facilitate a dialogue with the goal of informing potential approaches to address the nexus of hunger, nutrition and climate change in the post-2015 Development Agenda.

The President of Ireland, H.E. Michael D. Higgins, formally opened the high-level conference and welcomed participants, among them, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland; Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the UN World Food Program; Andris Piebalgs, European Union commissioner for development; Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, member of the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda; and former Vice-President of the United States Al Gore. 

Special Representative Shrier participated on the panel “From Learning to Leading – Informing the Post-2015 Development Agenda,” where panelists offered different points of view on how the exchanges from the conference could be connected to the post-2015 agenda. Fellow panelists included UN Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning Amina Mohammed; Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund Dr. Tony Lake; and CEO of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi Dyborn Chibonga.

Read more about this conference or find resources and conference documents.