The Agriculture Investment Summit is designed to bring investors and agriculture businesses together to find ways of putting innovation into practice and build an agriculture sector that is efficient, sustainable and ready to take advantage of growth opportunities.
The summit will cover key issues such as how the new geopolitics of food is shaping global investment, the practicalities of implementing a socially responsible investment policy and the challenges around global food price volatility and the role of speculation.
Dr Jones’ speech will focus on the work of the Global Resource Observatory project being carried out at Anglia Ruskin’s Global Sustainability Institute. In particular he will examine how the food-water-energy systems interact and potentially impact on agriculture investments.
“Agriculture investments are becoming increasingly important around the world,” said Dr Jones. “However the twin challenges of resource scarcity and climate change are putting pressure on these investments.
“We have already seen significant impacts on food prices, water scarcity and extreme events such as flooding. The ability to understand how these pressures will impact on future financial returns is critical.”
In addition to his keynote presentation, Dr Jones will chair a panel discussion on how environment, social and governance management systems can potentially deal with some of the risks associated with agriculture investment.
The panel includes Dr Silva Deželan from Rabobank Nederland; Desmond Fortes from the Netherlands Development Finance Company; Marc Sadler from the Agriculture & Environmental Services Department at the World Bank; and Forbes Elworthy, CIO at Craigmore Farming.
The summit will also feature speeches from David Heath MP, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, and Lester R Brown, environmentalist and author of Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.
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For more press information please contact:
Jon Green on t: 0845 196 4717, e: jon.green@anglia.ac.uk
Andrea Hilliard on t: 0845 196 4727, e: andrea.hilliard@anglia.ac.uk
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Anglia Ruskin expert addresses growing problem
19 June 2013
Dr Aled Jones, Director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, will deliver a keynote presentation focusing on the scarcity of vital resources at the sixth annual Agriculture Investment Summit in London next week (26-27 June).