Dr Audrey Aumua presenting the 2022 Sir John Crawford Memorial Address: Video now available.
August 19, 2022
Sir John Crawford contributed at the highest levels to the development of Australia and other countries and passionately supported international agricultural research for development. The Crawford Fund was established in his name, and since 1985, in his honour, we host the annual Sir John Crawford Memorial Address.
This year’s Memorial Address was presented by Dr Audrey Aumua, Chief Executive Officer, Fred Hollows Foundation NZ and Member, ACIAR Policy Advisory Council. Dr Aumua has extensive experience in research, policy development and management in New Zealand and Australia, Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga and Papua New Guinea. She has worked in regional development and held various regional leadership roles across the Pacific.
In her address, titled “Food and Nutrition Security in the Pacific and the Road Ahead for Small Islands and Developing States,” Dr Aumua discussed five signposts that can help us map our way to a more sustainable future.
Dr Aumua’s key message was that the Pacific and its partners need to re-imagine and rejuvenate agriculture and food systems to make the best use of the boundless potential of the region for food and nutrition security. She explained that we must tap into their small populations to blend tradition with modernity to thrive in a post-Covid, politically dynamic and climate-driven world.
The Vote of Thanks to Dr Aumua was presented by Dr Beth Woods, a Member of Australia’s Commission for International Agricultural Research.
The most recent Sir John Crawford Memorial Addresses have included:
- 2021 – Five Reflections to Transform Our Food Systems and Achieve the SDGs, Dr Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit.
- 2019 – Weathering the ‘perfect storm’, Professor Ross Garnaut AC, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne.
- 2018 –Food, Climate Change and National Security, Ms Frances Adamson, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
- 2017 – A New Narrative for Ending Hunger, Lindiwe Sibanda, Vice President for Country Support, Policy, and Delivery of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
