Food for Humanity Initiative
Food for Humanity Initiative Strategy Launch - February 4th
Curious about the Columbia Climate School's latest group - the Food for Humanity Initiative? The F4Hi is a multi-disciplinary collaborative network that brings together people and projects on food systems research, teaching, policy, and programming from across Columbia University and beyond, leveraging multiple areas of existing expertise: climate, environment, agriculture, health, and nutrition, which comprise some of the most significant sectors of the global food system.
You are invited to learn more about this new initiative and the team of collaborators at its helm at the launch for the F4Hi Strategy. Join virtually as F4Hi director & Professor of Climate Jess Fanzo and esteemed F4Hi collaborators - Esther Akwii (Legal Researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment), Glenn Denning (Professor of Professional Practice & director of MPA-DP), Sandra Goldmark (Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Engagement at the Climate School & Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College), and Michael Puma (Professor of Climate & director of the Center for Climate Systems Research) present the 5 year strategy, which seeks to ensure food systems nurture humanity and the planet.
Tuesday, February 4th at 1-2pm. REGISTER HERE
New From The F4Hi
Global food systems research shows price volatility persists despite steady rise in production
Jessica Fanzo, professor of Climate and director of the Food for Humanity Initiative at Columbia Climate School, says: “We need wholesale reform of our food systems so we can provide the world’s population with the nutritious food needed to grow and develop. We are facing a syndemic of challenges: increasing diet-related disease, continued undernutrition and a changing climate.”
“Combating these requires significant and rapid change. This study is so important because it shows the speed of change so far to guide more action because we can only manage what we measure.”
Facilitating Increased Demand for Healthy Diets: Evidence on Approaches in Feed the Future Contexts
Healthy diets that are diverse, safe, and nutritious are central to all development efforts and core to USAID’s food security efforts. While supply-side investments that increase agricultural productivity remain critical, demand-driven interventions for nutritious food—by consumers, companies, and the public sector—are also a critical part of the dialogue.
153 winners of Nobel and World Food prizes seek new ways to grow food to meet surging global need
Cynthia Rosenzweig, a climate research scientist at NASA who won the World Food Prize in 2022, said in an interview that researchers are already making progress toward breakthroughs, but their work needs to be turbocharged with more funding and emphasis from world leaders.
“Climate change and the rampant extreme events we are grappling with are a reckoning. We are realizing we don’t have a choice, and for some living in resource-constrained settings, the choice is even more limited. We have to change the way we grow food, how we distribute it, and how we consume it. We have to consider equity issues across food systems. We have to hold our governments and the range of private sector actors accountable to assist in this transition. We can’t leave it to eaters to fend for themselves when the cards are often stacked against them.” – Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative, Columbia Climate School