In September 2014 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition. This was followed in 2015 by three regional meetings in Brazil, Senegal and Thailand. These meetings brought together stakeholders from academia, policy and civil society to facilitate better understanding of the role of agroecology in contributing to food security and nutrition. The meetings confirmed that FAO’s approach to agro ecology should be based on regional and local realities as well as economic, social and environmental conditions. In order to continue to develop this regional approach a further symposium on agroecology the International Symposium on Agroecology for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in China was organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), FAO, and Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), with the support of the Government of France.