22 October 2022, Des Moines, IA: On October 20, 2022, the World Food Prize Foundation awarded Cynthia Rosenzweig of the United States with the World Food Prize for her seminal contributions to understanding and predicting the impacts of the interaction between climate and food systems. Rosenzweig received the Prize in the Iowa State Capitol during the Laureate Award Ceremony, an annual event celebrating a distinguished individual as they receive the honor.
“I am honored to receive the World Food Prize this year, as food systems are emerging at the forefront of climate change action,” Rosenzweig said. “Climate change cannot be restrained without attention to food system emissions, and food security for all cannot be provided without resilience to increasing climate extremes.”
The 2022 Laureate Award Ceremony was the culmination of the 2022 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue Feeding a Fragile World, a multi-day dialogue discussing global food, agriculture and climate topics. Foundation President Barbara Stinson, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Rosenzweig gave remarks at the Ceremony.
During her acceptance speech, Rosenzweig expressed the urgency of mitigating and adapting to climate and food security threats.
“As we move into this crucial decade of action on climate change, food needs to be ‘at the table,’” Rosenzweig said. “The World Food Prize is doing a tremendous service in making sure food is indeed prominent in global gatherings such as the 27th Conference of Parties next month in Egypt.”
The Ceremony featured a spoken word poetry performance from Emmett Saah Phillips Jr. and Oakridge Neighborhood Youth and a musical performance from Dillon Bustin, Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen. Ceremony guests then enjoyed a reception in the Capitol Rotunda to celebrate Rosenzweig’s exceptional accomplishments in climate and food security.
Rosenzweig, Senior Research Scientist and head of the Climate Impacts Group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), is the 52nd Laureate of the World Food Prize. By designing and leading rigorous observational and modeling research efforts, she has influenced climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in over 90 countries. She founded the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) in 2010, building a community of experts dedicated to advancing methods for improving predictions of the future performance of agricultural and food systems in the face of climate change. She is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia Climate School and a Professor at Barnard College.
