Paul Cezanne: Still Life, Bowl and Milk Jug, 1877 (via WikiArt).

Scientists, politicians and donor agents are gathering today at a high-level meeting in New York called CGIAR Development Dialogues. The aim of CGIAR, a global alliance of agricultural science for a food-secure future, in hosting this conference is to sharpen the world’s attention on the vital roles of agriculture, livestock, fisheries, landscapes and food systems in sustainable development.

The intention is to link pioneering research in these areas to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, an emerging set of ambitious 15-year targets for tackling poverty, hunger and improving livelihoods worldwide. The goals, which come into effect in 2015, will build on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Speakers at today’s event include Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rajendra Pachauri, chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and leaders in the United Nations, government ministries, philanthropic foundations and universities as well as CGIAR.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the multi-institutional CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, which ILRI leads, is represented at the CGIAR Development Dialogues 2014 by Iain Wright, ILRI’s interim deputy director general for integrated sciences; Tom Randolph, director of the Livestock and Fish program; and Iddo Dror, who heads ILRI’s capacity development work.

They will be joined by around 250 delegates to debate four themes related to the Sustainable Development Goals:

• prosperous, food-secure and resilient livelihoods
• healthier, innovative, capable and inclusive communities
• new partnerships for development impact
• climate change-resilient agroecosystems

ILRI and the Livestock and Fish program are helping to organize the following two high-level session debates:
nutrition — Healthier, innovative, capable and inclusive communities: Nutrition- and gender-sensitive agriculture and food systems (session 2.1, 11:30–13:00 EDT)
partnerships — Strategic partnerships in agricultural research for inclusive impact: grounds for hope? (session 3.2, 14:30–16:00 EDT)

The whole of the day’s presentations and discussions will be streamed from Columbia University, New York; here is the program.

Click the Live buttons on the page to watch the discussions as they happen. The times given are in Eastern Daylight time (EDT).