Saturday, 3 December, 16:00 - 17:30
Room: Plenary
Our food systems are heavily impacted by the climate crisis. The extreme weather events this past summer have shown again that our current production models are not nearly resilient enough for a world in climate crisis. The war in Ukraine has worsened the already precarious food security globally and further highlighted the injustice, unsustainability and fragility of the current system.
In regions that are already grappling with economic crises and political instability, this will have disastrous effects on the populations. At the same time, increasing energy and food prices coupled with inflation are also impacting EU member states and in particular their most vulnerable residents.
This plenary session aims to highlight the grave shortcomings of the current food system, outline innovative solutions to the interlinked crises of the war, global food shortages, and harmful industrial food productions, but also pinpoint Europe’s responsibility in the current global crisis as well as actions that are already taken by Greens in positions of power to ameliorate the effects on the population.
| Speakers: | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Moderator: Thomas Waitz, Co-Chair of the European Green Party, Member of the European Parliament Thomas is an organic farmer, forester, and beekeeper. He is a Member of the European Parliament from Austria and the Co-Chair of the European Green Party (EGP). He fights for small-scale and ecologically sustainable agriculture, better animal, climate and environmental protection, a peaceful foreign policy and a green EU. | |
 | Virginijus Sinkevicius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius is the current Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, at the European Commission. Mr Sinkevičius was Minister of Economy from 2017 to 2019, and before he was leading the Committee of Economy at the Parliament of Lithuania. Mr. Sinkevičius was elected to the Parliament in October 2016. Prior, he was a Team Lead for Regulatory Affairs at Invest Lithuania. Mr. Sinkevičius holds a BA in International Relations and Affairs from Aberystwyth University and a Master's degree in European International Affairs from Maastricht University. | |
 | Pippa Hackett, Minister of State on Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland Organic farmer and agricultural science graduate, with a PhD in Biomechanics. Married to Mark, and mother of 4 children. Member of Green Party Ireland since 2016. Minister of State at Department of Agriculture since 2020 with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity, specifically forestry, organics, horticulture and on-farm biodiversity. Member of Seanad Eireann (Irish Upper House) since 2019, and previously a member of local government on Offaly County Council. Other political priorities include women’s representation in politics, women’s health, and social inclusion. | |
 | Adenike Titilope Oladosu, Climate justice activist and Director of ILeadClimate Action Initiative, Nigeria Oladosu Adenike Titilope is an Ecofeminist & climate justice leader. The founder of ILeadClimate Action Initiative that specializes in peace, security and equality in Africa especially the Lake Chad region and championing the green democracy. Through her initiative on the use and control of resources (organic fertilizer), she has empowered thousands of women and girls. Adenike has showcased her climate action in both local and international fora. Passionate about youth involvement in climate action through climate education, she has empowered thousands of young people. | |
 | Marie-Louise Boisen Lendal, CEO and Founder Think Tank Frej, Denmark Marie-Louise is founder and CEO of the Think Tank Frej who works to create a more sustainable food production and consumption through collaboration and dialogue between industry and the young generation. She has been one of the key drivers to create governmental and industrial investments and strategies in plant-based food production. She is in several advisory boards, councils and boards such as the previous governments climate council on food and agriculture, the Novo Nordisk Foundations Plant2Food programe and a board member of Friland - sustainable and organic meat production. Frej works with more than 60 partner companies and has young volunteers. | |
