Sustainable Food Systems Future

Pham Quang Huy, Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, Trade Office, Vietnam Embassy, USA

 

Pham Quang Huy is a Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Viet Nam. He currently serves as the Counselor for Agricultural Affairs at Embassy of Viet Nam in the US responsible for promoting technical cooperation and trade in agriculture between Viet Nam and the US. He was the coordinator of Vietnam’s participation in various activities under the framework of SOM-AMAF in ASEAN cooperation.

He is also in charge of the operation of the Secretariat for Partnerships of Sustanable Agriculture in Viet Nam (PSAV). He has been directly involved in the trade dispute settlement and in the negotiations of free trade agreements focusing on market access for agricultural products. He obtained the Master Degree in Biosecurity and Conservation from the Aukland University, New Zealand.

Imelda Bacudo, Senior Advisor on Agri Food Initiatives, COP28 Presidency

Imelda Bacudo (Dada) is currently a senior advisor to the COP28 Presidency of the UAE, ensuring the alignment of UNFCCC agreements on agrifood systems with Presidency partnership initiatives and concurrently the Co Chair of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agri with the facilitation unit based in FAO rome

Dada previously worked as Senior Advisor to the ASEAN and ASEAN Member States for strengthened regional and international policies to support the transformation to low emissions and resilient agrifood sector. She played a pivotal role in the development and coordination of the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network—a successful platform for knowledge exchange and support on climate-smart land use; and the ASEAN Negotiating Group for Agriculture (ANGA), which capacitated the agriculture sector into engagements with the UNFCCC, and is recognized as a subgroup negotiating under the G77 and China.

Dada is a climate change expert with over 20 years of experience in the areas of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and conservation finance. She has worked with NGOs, national governments, and international development agencies in the Philippines, Latin America, Uganda, and Southeast Asia.

Tuyen Thi Thanh HUYNH, Research Team Leader, Alliance Bioversity and CIAT, Asia

 

 

Mrs Tuyen Thi Thanh HUYNH is a research team leader for the Food Environment and Consumer Behavior (FECB) lever in Asia at the Alliance of Bioversity Internal and CIAT. She works as a Country Coordinator of OneCGIAR Sustainable Healthy Diets (SHiFT) initiative in Vietnam; Co-lead of Asia Mega Delta Workpackage 2; and Co-convenor of Intervention Package 8 – ASEAN CGIAR program.

She leads activities of the cross-center initiative in its support of the national government and international agencies and movements in promoting delivery and use of sustainabe healthy food that ultimately provides economic, social and nutritional benefits to all consumers in Vietnam.

Moderator:

Dhanush Dinesh, Founder & Chief Climate Catalyst Clim-Eat

 

Dhanush is the Founder and Chief Climate Catalyst of Clim-Eat, the ‘think and do tank’ for food and climate which he established in 2021 at COP26. Clim-Eat focuses on bridging science and policy on food and climate issues by synthesizing knowledge, convening stakeholders, providing strategic advice, and strategic policy engagement.

His previous work experience includes roles within the private sector, NGOs, and the UN and CGIAR systems, in China, India, Thailand, The Netherlands and the UK. He has worked on a range of issues including forestry, environmental policy, climate change adaptation, and advocacy, at the national, regional, and global levels.

Dhanush has an interdisciplinary academic background, combining an MBA, MSc in Carbon management, and a PhD in Environmental Governance. He is a member of the Advisory
Boards of the EAT Foundation. ClieNFarms and the Global Food and Environment Institute
at the University of Leeds.

Panelists:

Ishmael Sunga, CEO, The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU)

A Zimbabwean national, he holds a BSc (Economics) degree and has post-graduate qualifications, including in MSc (Strategic Management). He has more than 30 years’ wide-ranging experience in agriculture and rural development, including in policy research and advocacy, as well as development management. Apart from southern Africa where he is based, he has also worked in the UK and undertaken assignments in other parts of Africa and Asia.

Since joining SACAU in 2005, he has positioned the organisation as the main voice for farmers of southern Africa on matters of common and strategic interest at regional and global levels. The brand is associated with good corporate governance, professionalism, thought leadership and high standards of development management. He has spearheaded the organisation’s work in several key areas, including digital solutions; climate change management; the development of a new generation of farmers and of farmers’ organisations; systems management and multi-stakeholder approaches, and value-chain cooperation.

He has served or is currently serving in various capacities on several continental and global institutions and initiatives, such as the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), the World Economic Forum (WEF), African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), Malabo Montpellier Panel of Experts (MAMO), Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Generation Africa; the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification and USAID’s Bureau for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD)-subcommittee on Climate Change.

Bruno Brasil, Director of Sustainable Production and Irrigation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Brazil

Bruno Brasil is the Director of Sustainable Production and Irrigation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Brazil. He is responsible for coordinating the Sectorial Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and Low Carbon Emissions in Agriculture (ABC+ Plan), the National Program for Soils
in Brazil (Pronasolos), among other public policies.

Graduated in Biological Sciences, he holds an MBA in Project Management, as well as a Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology.

Dr. Brasil was co-founder and R&D Director of the biotechnology-based company Myleus. In 2012, he assumed a position as a researcher at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and served as R&D Deputy Director at Embrapa Agroenergy Unit for two years. Moreover, Dr. Brasil was Secretary of Embrapa’s R&D Department at the company’s headquarters for four years. Between 2022 and 2023, he served as Strategy Superintendent at Embrapa headquarters.

Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge IFAD

Jyotsna Puri is the Associate Vice-President – Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD) at IFAD. She leads the organizations strategy work in IFAD’s key areas targeting agriculture, climate, gender, nutrition, youth and social inclusion. Puri provides the vision for evidence-informed advice on program designs and implementation, contributing to resource mobilization, and supporting IFAD’s global remit in providing state-of the art policy advice related to these topics.

Puri has worked previously at the Green Climate Fund, 3ie, UNEP, the World Bank and UNDP. She is also adjunct associate professor at Columbia University, New York where she was also a research scientist. She has published in many academic journals and written for newspapers and provided advice as a board member to several development organizations. In 2019, Puri was selected one of 16 women who have shown leadership in restoring the earth through their efforts, by the Global Landscape Forum.

She holds a PhD and MSc in Agriculture and Resource Economics and an MA in Development Economics.

Salla Sulasuo, Head of Climate and Nature, Paulig

Oliver Camp, Senior Associate, Nature Positive Actions for Healthy Diets – Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

Oliver is Senior Associate in the Environment Team at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, where he leads efforts to ensure that nutrition programming also factors in climate, environment and biodiversity considerations.

He leads GAIN’s policy and advocacy work at the climate-nutrition nexus, and has also been part of the core team for the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition, launched at COP27. His background is in the private sector, working as a consultant and subsequently in house at some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies.

Beverley Postma, Executive Director, Grow Asia

Beverley Postma is the Executive Director of Grow Asia, a multi-stakeholder partnership platform that catalyzes action on inclusive agricultural development in Southeast Asia. The platform convenes governments, farmers, NGOs and other stakeholders to co-create value chain initiatives focused on smallholder farmers and environmental sustainability of agriculture. Grow Asia was established by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat.

Bev is an accomplished policy expert and fundraiser in sustainable development and has worked hand-in-hand with non-profits, governments, and multinational companies to design scalable solutions that are both sustainable and inclusive. She most recently served as CEO of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), where she led a team of 112 staff through a turbulent year of restructuring and worked with the Board to deliver a visionary new five-year strategy to make certified sustainable palm oil the norm.

Prior to RSPO, Bev was CEO of HarvestPlus, a $400m Agri-Tech venture funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, and the MacArthur Foundation to tackle micronutrient malnutrition by working with smallholders in thirty countries to improve the nutrition of staple crops. While at HarvestPlus, she led a multicultural team of 175 staff across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, revitalizing global operations and securing new investments of $30 million, including a $15 million award as a finalist in the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition.

Prior to joining HarvestPlus, Bev was founder and executive director of Food Industry Asia (FIA), the region’s premier industry platform for the world’s largest food and beverage companies. Before that, she held senior corporate affairs and marketing roles with Kellogg’s in Europe and Syngenta in Asia.

Bev holds a BSc in Marine Biology from the University of Liverpool and holds non-executive board positions with venture capital firms and global advisory committees. She is an expert member of World Bank Group’s G7 Action Plan on Inclusive Value Chains & Fair Production; a member of the World Economic Forum’s E15 Task Force on Regulatory Systems Coherence; and an expert adviser to the Milken Institute. In 2016, she was awarded the Prospect Gold Standard Award for Professional Excellence for her leadership in Asia. Her previous consulting clients include the World Bank, CGIAR, Dyson, Nutrition International, and The Power of Nutrition.

Dhanush Dinesh, Founder and Chief Climate Catalyst, Clim-Eat

Dhanush is the Founder and Chief Climate Catalyst of Clim-Eat, the ‘think and do tank’ for food and climate which he established in 2021 at COP26. Clim-Eat focuses on bridging science and policy on food and climate issues by synthesizing knowledge, convening stakeholders, providing strategic advice, and strategic policy engagement.

His previous work experience includes roles within the private sector, NGOs, and the UN and CGIAR systems, in China, India, Thailand, The Netherlands and the UK. He has worked on a range of issues including forestry, environmental policy, climate change adaptation, and advocacy, at the national, regional, and global levels.

Dhanush has an interdisciplinary academic background, combining an MBA, MSc in Carbon management, and a PhD in Environmental Governance. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the EAT Foundation. ClieNFarms and the Global Food and Environment Institute at the University of Leeds.