On Oct. 20, the World Food Prize Foundation awarded NASA scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig the World Food Prize due to her contributions to understanding and predicting the impacts of the interaction between climate and food systems.
“I am honored to receive the World Food Prize this year, as food systems are emerging at the forefront of climate change action,” Rosenzweig said at the Laureate Award Ceremony at the Iowa State Capitol during the 2022 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue Feeding a Fragile World. “Climate change cannot be restrained without attention to food system emissions, and food security for all cannot be provided without resilience to increasing climate extremes.”
Rosenzweig is a senior research scientist and head of the Climate Impacts Group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. She’s influenced climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies by designing and leading rigorous observational and modeling research efforts. In addition, she founded the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) in 2010 to build a community of experts dedicated to advancing methods to improve prediction of agricultural and food system performance in the face of climate change.
During her speech, Rosenzweig said it was imperative to mitigate and adapt to climate and food security threats.
“As we move into this crucial decade of action on climate change, food needs to be ‘at the table,'” Rosenzweig said. “The World Food Prize is doing a tremendous service in making sure food is indeed prominent in global gatherings such as the 27th Conference of Parties next month in Egypt.”
