8:45 – 9:00 AM OPENING REMARKS by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs

One of the world’s greatest challenges is to secure plentiful and healthy food for all, and to do so in an environmentally sustainable manner. This challenge is under threat on many fronts: climate change, population growth, extreme poverty, the obesity epidemic, water scarcity, land degradation, the contentious role of bio-fuels, rising prices of fuel and fertilizer, and intense social conflicts and divisions over what constitutes a safe and sustainable food supply. There has never been a more urgent time for global cooperation on these issues. We will need cooperation not only across international borders but across key groups in each society, including farmers, consumers, scientists, industry leaders, ecologists, and government.

Jeffrey Sachs is kicking off the Global Food Forum by saying "we are going to lock the doors and solve the world's problems." He is stressing that there is no single dimension to the problems we face, which is to feed an ever-growing population. We haven't solved the basic problem of providing a healthy and secure food supply for the world in a sustainable manner.

1. We continue to have a profound nutrition crisis on the planet.
2. We face a profound food production crisis in many parts of the world. Africa has not seen a rise in productivity. India has seen a tremendous strain on it's resources since the Green Revolution. Production is threatened by climate change. There is a crisis of food quality. Not enough nutritional diversity.
   
3. World food system is the number one driver of global environmental crisis.
4. There is a crisis of technology and public acceptability and confidence. Genetically Modified Crops receiving a lot of criticism.
5. We don't have a locus of governance to address this crisis. Not enough governance leading to action and results.
   

This is why we are here.