Nesibe Aydın e-magazine Mart -March 27, 2016 | Page 55

The expo that will take place in Milan, Italy, “Expo Milan 2015”, can be humanity’s new
turning point. It will be the biggest expo organized on food. It will change our
understanding on food. It will help us understand how we can make our planet more
sustainable. Many people, organizations and business partners around the world will be
sharing their ideas, techniques and culture in different pavilions. In each pavilion, a nation’s
culture, history, and their relationship with food will be represented through a six month
period. There will be even thematic areas, such as “Pavilion Zero”, where the visitors can
explore how men have produced, the transformation of landscape and the culture of food
consumption. The expo’s centre theme is sustainability, which is a universal value that
concerns us all. This brings us to the expo’s main motto: “Feeding the World, Energy for the
Planet”.
So, how can we actually learn from the Expo? It is very simple. Everyone who accesses the
Expo gets the chance to participate in the seminars and meetings at different pavilions of
different countries or themes. These are unique places where countries demonstrate how
they have been fighting against hunger and poverty. On June 4, Brazil explained how fighting
against hunger was possible with the “Bolsa Familia” program. The program combined the
issue of access to credit with social policies.
In fact, Brazilian families who requested to take part in the program had to prove that all
their children were actually attending school and were all vaccinated. Also, all pregnant
women would undergo the necessary medical examinations. Thanks to these interventions,
the country has reduced the percentage of chronic poverty (lack of food, education and
electricity) from 8. 2 percent to 1. 1 percent from 2002 to 2013. On the other hand, Israel
pavilion held the Tel-Aviv Smart City Conference, where models of sustainable innovation
were unveiled.
During the conference it was cited that the 4. 5 percent of GDP that Israel dedicates to
research as further evidence of the country’s investment in innovation. The “Smart Food
City” project had its starting point in Milan. The project which included 46 cities, including
Tel-Aviv itself, between October 15 and 16, will develop a set of policies for producing and
consuming sustainable food, implementing nutrition and food waste education campaigns
and involving the entire community in food-related projects.