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est growth rates and imports
98 percent of its food.
Yemen cannot afford to buy
food, and the consequent
social unrest will affect its
neighbors.”
In addition, Pearson
said the “Greening Malawi”
project will limit access to
water inside Malawi and
neighboring countries, in
turn reducing the livelihood
of many fishing communities.
“The splitting of Sudan
is another classic example
of a fight for arable land and
energy resources,” she said.
Land grabbing is on the
rise in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. Richer developed
countries are purchasing
land in less-developed
countries, and these investments
are becoming a
source of conflict because
the buyers seldom recognize
the rights of local stakeholders,
domestic food security
and rural development concerns.
According to Pearson,
unchecked “land grabs” will
lead to more global food
sovereignty conflicts.
Another emerging source
of conflict relates to urbanization
emanating from
internal migration from
rural communities. “We
have crossed the threshold,
and there are now more
people living in urban areas
than in rural areas for the
first time in history,” Pearson
said. “Conflicts linked to
food security will occur
because of reduced food
production in the abandoned
rural areas.”
The Role of Women
The World Bank estimates
that countries lose about 3
percent of gross domestic
product (GDP) annually if
children are unhealthy when
they grow to adulthood.
Recent WFP studies in Latin
America have put the figure
at closer to 11 percent reduction
in GDP. But a study by
the International Food Policy
Research Institute finds
that across 63 countries,
women’s education leads to
more productive farming
and results in a 43 percent
decline in malnutrition.
Pearson has long been
passionate about educating
girls. She cited that in
2007, according to UNICEF,
women did 66 percent of
the world’s work and produced
50 percent of the
world’s food but earned only
10 percent of the world’s
income and owned only 1
percent of all property.
“Teaching young girls,
providing them with nutritious
meals, and giving them
confidence and encouragement
is the best investment
a country can make,” she
said. “Girls who remain in
school marry later, postpone
their first pregnancies and
space their pregnancies,
which breaks the cycle of
undernourished pregnant
adolescents giving birth to
undernourished children.”
Pearson said nutrition
plays a critical role in a person’s
life during a narrow
window of time—the 1,000
days that begin at the start
of the mother’s pregnancy
and continue through the
second year of life. “The
quality of nutrition during
those 1,000 days can help
determine whether a mother
and child survive pregnancy
and whether a child will
contract a common childhood
disease, experience
enough brain development
to go to school and to hold
a job as an adult.” n
Odette Boya Resta B’99, ’00
is communications officer at
the Bologna Center.
Amici di Bologna 2011
On June 4, nearly
120 Bologna
alumni from the
classes of 1960 to
2011—and even a couple
of fresh faces from the class
of 2012—gathered at 230
Fifth’s glamorous rooftop
garden and penthouse
lounge in the heart of New
York City for the fourthannual
Amici di Bologna,
an event reuniting Bologna
Center professors and former
students.
The program began
with opening remarks from
Bologna Center Director
Kenneth H. Keller and continued
with an academic
panel, including SAIS
Professors Mahrukh
Doctor B’89, ’90, Mark
Gilbert and Erik Jones B’89,
’90, Ph.D. ’96. With a view
of the Empire State Building,
guests listened to a
discussion about the implications
of developments in
Europe and South America
on the Obama administration’s
foreign policy agenda.
The event featured
two exciting door prizes:
Peter Bracke B’81 and
his wife, Rita, donated
a weeklong stay in their
Paris studio apartment, and
Alison von Klemperer B’86,
’87 contributed a dinner
and a set of handcrafted
aquamarine earrings and
necklace. Young alumni
Branislav Kralik B’09, ’10
and Jamie Shellenberger
B’10, ’11 were this year’s big
winners.
The event concluded
with dessert and coffee, but
for many amici the party
flowed downtown and into
the night.
This year’s rooftop format
encouraged fluid movement
among guests, while the
2010 sit-down dinner led to
more sustained conversations.
For the fifth-annual
Amici di Bologna event in
2012, the steering committee
plans to offer the best
of both worlds by organizing
a sit-down dinner and
an after-party option. Alla
prossima!
To help organize the
2012 event, contact steering
committee chair Tom
Tesluk B’81, ’82 at ttesluk@
gmail.com.
Framed by the New York City skyline, Bologna Center Director
Kenneth H. Keller, Portia Mills B’09, ’10 and guest, Professor
Erik Jones B’89, ’90, Ph.D. ’96 and Bologna Center Director of
Development Gabriella Chiappini
2011–2012 65