Melbourne Development Circle’s Game Changer Online event – Food Sovereignty in a Changing Environment
Tuesday 4th May, 2021 – 12 noon – 1 pm (AEST)
As we approach the latter years of the UN Decade of Action in Nutrition 2016-2025 pledging to eradicate malnutrition globally, we are faced with significant vulnerabilities to our food system. The effects of climate change with recent extreme weather events have destroyed food crops that feed communities and affected the livelihoods of food producers. Additionally, the current COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted food supply chains and prevented food processing and distribution globally. As a result, hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition and economic losses are prevalent.
Global Stats
- 690 million people are undernourished
- 2 billion people experience some level of food insecurity
- 38 million children under 5 years are overweight
- The COVID-19 pandemic may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world in 2020
- Over 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet
- Healthy diets can lead to a reduction of up to 97 percent in direct and indirect health costs and 41–74 percent in the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions in 2030
As land and food are the nexus to population health, planetary health, culture and community, it is an opportune time to explore how we can create more resilient food systems that are ecologically sustainable, whilst respecting the environment, thereby upholding the principles of food sovereignty.
With this in mind, we start our 2021 Game Changer series with an online panel discussion on “Food Sovereignty in a Changing Environment”. Hear from panellists about innovative examples and lessons learnt along the way in creating local food systems that embed community controls for food production that works with, rather than exploits, nature to ultimately keep the population and planet nourished.
Panellists:
- Chris Andrew, General Manager, Black Duck Foods
- Jennifer Sheridan, Director, Open Food Network
- Dr Nick Rose, Executive Director, Sustain: The Australian Food Network
Date: Tuesday 4th May, 2021
Time: 12 noon – 1 pm (AEST)
Location: online via Zoom
Cost: This is a free event, however, we encourage those who are in a position to do so to make a donation to cover costs.*
*As a voluntary organisation, MDC has ongoing costs, and as such we would greatly appreciate financial contributions in order to keep providing events such as this to the benefit of our community.
Speaker Bios
Chris Andrew , General Manager, Black Duck Foods
Chris is the General Manager of Black Duck Foods Ltd, a new Indigenous social enterprise committed to traditional food systems that care for Country and return economic benefits directly to Indigenous peoples. An early career in the global investment banking and oil sectors underpin more than a decade of his focus on managing people and enterprises dedicated to accelerating community development outcomes. Chris is also Chairperson of Desert Pea Media, a not-for-profit organisation empowering Indigenous young people in regional and remote areas of Australia through digital storytelling.
Jen Sheridan, Director, Open Food Network
Jen Sheridan is a Director of Open Food Network Australia. The Open Food Network is a not-for-profit building the tools and resources needed to create a new food system that is fair, local, and transparent. Jen works with communities and enterprises to create thriving regional food systems that are fair and transparent. Jen has a background in journalism and academia, including as a researcher on the Know Your Foodbowl project at the Food Alliance at Deakin University and then the Foodprint Melbourne project at the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab and Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne. She currently leads a number of regional food system research and development projects in Victoria.
LinkedIn
Dr Nick Rose, Executive Director, Sustain: The Australian Food Network
Nick is a sustainable food systems changemaker, researcher, and teacher. Nick is the Founder and Executive Director of a national food systems organization, Sustain, and a lecturer in food systems and food movements at William Angliss Institute in Melbourne (Bachelor of Food Studies / Master of Food Systems and Gastronomy). Nick works collaboratively with multiple stakeholders in government, academia, community and business in government, academia, community and business in the coordination of events, networks, research, consultancies and major projects.
Readings
To prepare for our discussion, please find links below for suggested background readings. Feel free to share any other relevant articles on our Facebook event page.
- The six pillars of food sovereignty.
- The impact of COVID-19 on values-based food supply in Australia and the sector’s response.
- Which diet‐related practices are essential to achieve healthy and sustainable food system transformation?
- Sowing seeds for First Nations food sovereignty.
- Food Sovereignty: Power, Gender, and the Right to Food.
- Is eating a settler-colonial act? Food justice and Indigenous sovereignty.
