World Shiology Forum launches Hainan Initiative

Representatives of the six continents signed the Hainan Initiative at the 4th World Shiology Forum on Oct 11 in Haikou. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hainan Initiative, an initiative on "eat and food" issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals, was released on Wednesday at the 4th World Shiology Forum, which was held in Haikou, South China's Hainan province.

The forum focuses on working together to address the root causes of food crisis, build systems that put people over profit, and end hunger once and for all.

After the Initiative was read out by Liu Guangwei, founder and director-general of the World Shiology Forum, representative of Europe, Tom Dietmar Heilandt, representative of North America, Shannon S. Herzfeld, representative of South America, Emiliano Milanez Graziano Da Silva, representative of Africa, Rashid Ali Suleiman, representative of Asia, and representative of Oceania, Keerthi Hapugasdeniya signed the document along with Liu.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Wu Hongbo, former under-secretary-general of the United Nations, Liu Zhenmin, former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, and Yang Xiaobo, member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Of the 17 SDGs, at least 13 are related to "eat and food" issues, and sustainable development cannot be achieved unless "eat and food" issues are effectively addressed, according to Hainan Initiative.

In his message to the forum, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that in face of a global food crisis, we must transform food systems urgently to make them more sustainable, equitable and resilient.

The initiative states that to address food crisis, governments and businesses must work together to scale up climate-friendly investments, and people must leverage science and technology to improve access to healthy foods while reducing the use of water and the carbon footprint.

"Eat and food" issues are highly interrelated and integrated, and thus concern many areas of global sustainable development. Issues such as eating enough and eating healthily, food shortage and food waste, food productivity and population growth, agricultural development and environmental protection, food processing and eaters' health, food distribution and social harmony do not exist in isolation, but are interrelated.

Many don't have a complete understanding of the interrelations.

"We need a new knowledge system - shiology - that covers all the 'eat and food' issues related to the SDGs, to comprehensively cognize the issues and holistically govern them, setting the eaters at the center of the approach, and thus promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," said the initiative.