On 22 October, Dan Smith, SIPRI Director, engaged in a high-level seminar on food security in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and how these issues link to conflict and climate change. The event was organized by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The keynote address was delivered by David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP was recently awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize ‘for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict’.
Among the discussants were Peter Eriksson, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation; Sofia Calltorp, International Director, Swedish Red Cross; and Elisabet Hedin, Director of Humanitarian Aid, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The seminar was moderated by Carl Skau, Deputy Director General, Department for Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Read more about SIPRI’s work on the relationship between food and security conducted in partnership with the WFP.
Watch the video of the seminar here.