Getting Energized About Food Security

By: Natalie Wu

Disclaimer: The views are those of the author's alone and do not represent the views of UNA-Canada.

Hello everyone! My name is Natalie, and I’m a Junior Professional Consultant (JPC) with UNA-Canada. I’m currently working remotely from Montreal for the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme Unit (PRO-C) of the Programme and Policy Division based in Rome, Italy. Within the PRO-C unit, I am a part of the Energy for Food Security team.

Natalie works remotely from Montreal with the Energy for Food Security Team at WFP’s HQ in Rome

Before starting this internship, I got my BSc in Human Nutrition at McGill University and was completing my MSc. in Bioresource Engineering. My master’s thesis was focused on evaluating the nutritional quality and the carbon footprint of a novel sustainable diet compared to common dietary patterns found in Canada. Completing my carbon footprint analysis was the first time I really considered the link between energy access and food security/food systems. However, at that time I only looked at energy from a climate change point of view. My placement in WFP has really broadened my understanding of what access to energy really means.

SDG 7 aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Energy access is important as it is an engine of transformative socioeconomic opportunities that touches on all aspects