Rashid Hassan, a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at University of Pretoria has been appointed as a Project Team member of Climate Change and Food Security. He will serve on the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition as one of the six team members. The other members of (HLPE) are Gerald Nelson (USA), Zucong Cai (China), Charles Godfray (UK), Maureen Santos (Brazil) and Hema Swaminathan (India).

The High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) is an essential element of the reform of Committee on World Food Security (CFS), an international and intergovernmental platform for food security and nutrition. The HLPE team is tasked to:

• Assess and analyse the current state of food security and nutrition and its underlying causes,
• Provide scientific and knowledge-based analysis and advise on specific policy-relevant issues, and
• Identify emerging issues and help members prioritise future actions.

The findings of the team will feed the CFS in view of its plenary session of October 2012.

Prof Hassan recently received the University of Pretoria Chancellor Medal for Research. He was previously Program Director at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa and Regional Economist at CIMMYT International (Maize and wheat research centre). He has served as a member of many advisory boards and committees, including the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Independent Science and Partnership Council, the South African Human Sciences Research Council, the External Academic Advisory Panel for the World Development Report 2009 on climate change, the Steering Committee of the African Centre For Climate and Earth Stewardship Science, the Board of Directors of the Stockholm Resilience Centre Board of Directors, the Global Environment Facility Science and Technical Advisory Panel-STAP IV, and the Science Panel and Co-Chair of the Condition and Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He also led the Africa-wide project on impacts of climate change on agriculture, water and ecosystems. Professor Hassan is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa and has been elected Senior Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists and Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.

To get more details on HLPE and CFS click here.
Well done Prof! Africa is proud.