The Star-studded 4th World Shiology Forum

The 4th World Shiology Forum was held in Hainan Province on October 10-12. More than 300 people, including scholars from 43 countries, ambassadors from 11 countries, two former Under-secretaries-general of the United Nations, as well as some academicians and Cheung Kong scholars from China, attended the forum. Mr. Feng Fei, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hainan Province, and Mr. Liu Xiaoming, Governor of Hainan Province, were present.

At the opening ceremony of the 4th World Shiology Forum held on October 10, Liu Zhenmin, former UN Under-Secretary-General, read a congratulatory letter from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which first congratulates on the opening of the 4th World Shiology Forum. The secretary-general Antonio Guterres says we are facing a global food crisis. Unsustainable food production, food packaging, and food transportation are fueling the climate crisis, causing huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, consuming more than two-thirds of the world's fresh water, and accelerating biodiversity loss. Antonio Guterres thinks we must urgently transform our food systems to make them more sustainable, equitable and resilient. Governments and Companies must work together to scale up climate-friendly investments. We must support these people who bring life to our food system. We also need to use science and technology to improve acquisition to healthy food while reducing our water use and carbon footprint. Antonio Guterres called on us to work together to root out the food crisis and establish a system that puts people first and profits second, and eradicate hunger completely. 

Liu Zhenmin, former UN Under-Secretary-General, read a congratulatory letter from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Liu Xiaoming, Governor of Hainan Province attended the opening ceremony. In his speech, he welcomed guests from all over the world to visit Hainan, thanked the World Shiology Forum for its efforts to solve human “eat+food” issues, and congratulated the 4th World Shiology Forum on a complete success!

José Graziano da Silva, former Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and President of Brazil Zero Hunger institute, highly praised the efforts made by the World Shiology Forum to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, stressing that the complete solution to the “eat+food” issues can promote the process of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and can eradicate poverty on a global scale. Zhu Juwang, Director of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, pointed out that “eat+food” issues the world facing today are still very serious, and the discussion of these issues by the World Shiology Forum is very important, and the meeting results are conducive to the achievement of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Zhang Xiaogang, former president of the International Standardization Organization (ISO), and Qiu Huanguang, dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, respectively delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. Mr. Tom Dietmar Heilandt, former Secretary of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, addressed in the opening ceremony on behalf of representatives from six continents. They highly affirmed the important value of Shiology to solve human “eat+food” issues and congratulated the forum on its success.