Food and water security in Africa

Drought conditions in Ethiopia Credit: USAID Africa Bureau

Aberystwyth University will be hosting a major international conference on the politics of food and water security in Africa on 18, 19 and 20 September.

Speakers include Jean Ping, Former President of the African Union, President of the UN General Assembly, and Foreign Minister of Gabon; Sir Emyr Jones Parry, President of Aberystwyth University and the UK’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Myles Wickstead from the Commission for Africa; and Alun Davies AM, Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Welsh Government.

The conference brings together experts in international relations, food and water research, law, the natural sciences, geography, development studies and diplomacy. 

It will address the multiple levels of food and water insecurity in Africa – global, international, national, and local – in relation to the uncertainties created by climate change and the demands of politics.

Professor Ken Booth, Director of the David Davies Memorial Institute at Aberystwyth University’s Department of International Politics, is one of the conference organisers.

“Food and water security are the most basic human needs, and Africa is the continent where those needs are most urgently felt”, he said.

“How the great challenges to meeting these needs will be met over the coming decades will tell us a great deal about the way the world will face up to issues such as climate change, global poverty, world political leadership, scientific research, and international conflict.

“Aberystwyth University is taking a lead internationally in multi-disciplinary teaching and research on these issues by bringing together distinguished figures from the fields of diplomacy, scientific research, non-governmental organisations, and the study of international politics. 

“By doing this we hope to clarify the political issues at the heart of food and water security challenges, and help public policy engage more effectively with them”, he added.

This landmark conference is the result of collaboration between the David Davies Memorial Institute, the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, and the Department of International Politics in Aberystwyth University, and the Climate Change Consortium Wales initiative of Welsh Government.

Further information about the conference is available online here 

Follow the conference proceedings on Twitter #FWSinAfrica

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