PHI’s proposal for a Sustainable Development (SD) Learning Event on “Integration of food and nutrition security, health and gender in climate resilient-sustainable development” at RIO+20 has been pre-selected by the conference organizers of RIO+20 to be voted on by the general public.

There are just 130 days left before the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), commonly called Rio+20, will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Center for Public Health and Climate Change at the Public Health Institute (PHI) congratulates the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for its new Climate Change and Development Strategy. 

The goal of the Climate Change and Development Strategy is to enable countries to accelerate their transition to climate resilient, low-emission and sustainable economic development.  The strategy presents the strategic objectives that USAID will pursue to accomplish this, provides guiding principles to inform climate change programs, and presents a roadmap for implementation that highlights the critical steps needed for integration.

Event hosted at the African Pavilion, Durban, COP17. This event was co-organized by Public Health Institute, the World Food Programme, UN Standing Committee on Nutrition and Action Against Hunger with the support of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank

Why nutrition and health?

Climate change has an impact on the nutrition security and health of millions of people, particularly poor women and children. The current crisis in the Horn of Africa and famine in Somalia is the result of one of the most severe droughts in 60 years and this can get worse since extreme weather events are getting more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. 

Protection and promotion of nutrition security and health are essential components of climate-resilient and sustainable development. Despite this, nutrition has been largely absent in the climate agenda. In fact this is the only event among more than 200 events at the COP17 that focuses on nutrition.