Chatham House

Posted by Carolyn on October 11, 2008 at 11:16 pm

Earlier this week I attended the Chatham House conference Food Security in the 21st Century, which opened with Hilary Benn’s announcement of a new Council of Food Policy Advisers, and never lost its grip from there, delivering up an astonishing parade of international politicians, scientists, economists and agronomists (Presidents, Chiefs and Directors-General all), a veritable Who’s Who of global food.

Merely to sit through the first day was a privilege, if a somewhat discombobulating one, so imagine my trepidation at being asked to chair the opening session on the second day, when the core of the conference (the findings of the two-year Chatham House Food Project) was to be presented. I owed this honour to Susan Ambler-Edwards, leader of the Project and a formidable woman whom I was fortunate enough to meet earlier this year at the Science Museum. All went well, I am happy to say, and the final report is due to be published next month. It’s a stark, deeply researched and potentially explosive piece of work – one that needs to be taken very seriously indeed.

You can see work in progress at the Chatham House Food Project here


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