FAO.org

Tuesday 16th February 2016, 17:30-19:00
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Centre, FAO HQ, Rome

A special session with students from different regions of the world is being organized to identify and convey key messages from the student community to policy and decision makers on the role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition. Student representatives from the participating universities will be joining online for a live discussion with a panel of eminent personalities. The key messages from this session will be reported in the final plenary of the symposium.

The panel members are Prof. Louise Fresco, President, Wageningen University, the Netherlands; Mme Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General, Natural Resources, FAO; Prof. Gebisa Ejeta, Distinguished Professor, Purdue University, USA; Prof. Margaret  Gill, Chair of the CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council; and Prof. Gunter Pauli, Founder of ZERI, Japan.

The participating universities are Cornell University, the United States of America; University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; Wageningen University, the Netherlands; American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia; Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy and Indonesia Chapter of the International Association of Agriculture Students from Bogor Agriculture University, Indonesia. In preparation for the event, these universities are hosting  ‘webinars’ in their premises to follow the Opening  Session and the High Level Ministerial Segment of the symposium and gather inputs from students to present them at the Student Interactive Session.

The session is organized with Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) and will be moderated by Kakoli Ghosh, FAO Partnerships Advocacy and Capacity Development Division.  It will be webcast in English, French and Spanish.