B20 Conference on Food Security and Nutrition
Istanbul - May 8, 2015
Event-in-brief and goals
As the world population is expected to hit 9 billion by 2050, global food security,
food loss and waste, and overall sustainable food systems become increasing
concerns. Not only world population is increasing, but also the consumption
demand of the emerging middle class is rising.
While estimates vary, around one-third of the food produced is lost or wasted
along the food chain due to lack of infrastructure, among many. More and more
families around the world are having difficult times in feeding their families and
the number of hungry people around the world remains unacceptably high;
estimates show that one in eight people go to bed hungry—in a world full of
food. We need better use of our already-produced food with efficient data
collection and investment in innovative mechanisms which would give a better
role for the small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and with better trade
practices.
Weather fluctuations are altering what our farmers around the world grow,
driving food prices upwards, and degrading the quality of our food worldwide.
Our planet’s soil is under heavy pressure, since environmental degradation and
unsustainable practices threaten where the food on our plates begin to grow.
Water, the world’s most valuable, but equally threatened resource, will need to
be given a more serious thought in future agricultural practices, for global
community is ultimately responsible for the water supply of future generations.
In order to ensure the well-being of the current and future generations, the world
will need a truly global perspective for the challenges that lie ahead of us and
future generations. The perspective needs to be bolstered by the practical publicprivate dialogue with corroborating best practices and policies.
B20, as the world’s one of the most important players in the global business
community, is placed in a strategic position to facilitate the process of taking
active and productive steps towards these difficulties. B20, as the significant
catalyst between public and private stakeholders and policy makers, will be in a
unique position to obtain feedback on the current status of the sustainable food
systems, challenges ahead of all of us, encourage a productive dialogue,
motivating discourse, and convey these to policy makers around the globe. It will
also receive its feedback from the prominent political leaders to attain a more
continuous, inclusive, and global approach.
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Consequently, B20 Turkey plans to hold B20 Conference on Food Security and
Nutrition to focus on topics that highlight the critical importance of our vulnerable
source of well-being—food—and issues that threaten its security. Sustainable
global food security, food loss and waste, available best practices and innovative
investments will be discussed. The event will feature senior government and G20
officials and global leaders of the B20 business community. B20 Turkey will
establish the B20 Food Security Dialogue Platform to facilitate effective dialogue
between the G20 ministers and the B20 community.
There will be participants from around the world from various nongovernmental
organizations, small and medium enterprises, multinational corporations as
important players in the global food chain, and other business and nongovernmental institutions. Some of the questions the participants will be asked to
consider are:
• Global food security—sustainability for future generations,
• Food loss and waste—the role of infrastructure and supply chain, defining the
problems and ideas to develop methodologies for collecting data—best
practices by them,
• Efficient methods to address both loss and waste—infrastructure investments,
efficient logistics, storage systems, etc.
• Addressing food insecurity and hunger,
• How to better trace produced food from farm to the table,
• What initiatives are being taken by companies to mitigate impacts on
farmers/the industry, better employment practices, and what better trade
mechanisms implemented?
• What are efficient roles played by the SMEs in both innovative solutions and
employment to address unsustainable food practices?
• Concrete suggestions for public sector actions which might ameliorate the
negative impacts of food loss and waste (short-medium-long term),
B20 Food Security Dialogue Platform
B20 Turkey aims to establish the Food Security Dialogue Platform (FSDP) that will
have around 25-30 business executives who will be tasked with facilitating
development of ideas to be assessed and investigated by the B20 Conference on
Food Security which will be held on May 8th, 2015.
FSDP members will be actively involved from the outset in the discussions and will
engage all stakeholders to steer the Food Security agenda towards B20 Turkey
objectives with connectivity, inclusivity, and continuity principles.
FSDP will have an overall responsibility of effective and productive dialogue
between the prominent food and agriculture firms within the B20 community and
the G20 governments. The FSDP will also take an active role in steering the B20
conference towards proactive discourse and towards actionable and
implementable agenda. This initiative will also catalyze a series of unique and
high-impact partnerships between business community and leaders in G20
countries.
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FSDP will have an important role of facilitating recommendation discussions,
conveying them to prominent political leaders and the G20 governments (e.g.,
Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Trade). It will also discuss objectives of the
thematic conference and get their feedback so as to provide a venue for two-way
effective communication and will work on implementable high priority objectives
with these officials. The FSDP will have inclusive role bringing together all
stakeholders from public and private parties, B20 and G20 alike. In addition, the
FSDP will provide suggestions, improvements, and ideas for thematic conference
material outputs.
FSDP chairmanship will oversee that FSDP objectives are met and will coordinate
FSDP members during the overall B20 Turkey process. The chairmanship will lead
the FSDP in communicating the identified barriers regarding issues tackled at
thematic conferences for implementation, and will be responsible for overall
delivery of objectives, and transfer of knowledge and recommendations,
mobilizing resources and investment commitments.
Event Structure
B20 Conference on Food Security and Nutrition will take place on May 8th 2015,
when the G20 Agriculture Ministers also meet. Given the importance of this
gathering, the B20 Conference would be an excellent opportunity to address
challenging questions on food security, and agricultural policy making.
This event will host five panels and keynote speeches. Each panel will aim to open
constructive discourse on global sustainable food systems. Last but not least,
there will be an interaction session between the participants and G20 Ministers
during which B20 will bring business view on sustainable food systems to the
G20’s attention.
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B20 Conference on Food Security and Nutrition
Istanbul - May 8, 2015
Draft Agenda (as of March 12 – all speakers tbd/tbc)
10.00 – 10.45 Opening Remarks
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M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Chair, B20 Turkey
WBG / FAO / IFAD/ OECD High-level Representative
Mehdi Eker, Minister of Food Agriculture and Livestock, Turkey
10.45 – 11.45 Sustainable Food Security: Global Challenges and the Role of the G20
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Moderator
Panelists
- tbd
- tbd
11.45 – 12.45 Reducing Food Loss and Waste: from production to consumption
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Moderator
Panelists
- tbd
- tbd
12.45 – 14.00 Lunch Break
14.00 – 14.20 Keynote Speech | Food for all: Nutrition and Hunger
14.20 – 15.20 Food Price Volatility and Trade Policies
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Moderator
Panelists
- tbd
- tbd
15.20 – 16.20 Supply Chain Visibility and Innovative Solutions in Agriculture
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Moderator
Panelists
- tbd
- tbd
16.20 – 16.40 Coffee Break
16.40 – 17.40 Sustainable Soil and Water Management
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Moderator
Panelists
- tbd
- tbd
17.40 – 18.40 G20 – B20 Interaction: Business Views on Sustainable Food Systems
19.00 – 20.30 Gala Dinner – G20 and B20 Representatives
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