In-person side event of the 2024 HLPF, Uniting Forces: Integrating Science, Policy and Society to Achieve Zero Hunger: Watch the recording!

Speakers' bio

Navid Hanif

Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)

Mr Navid Hanif is the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). He is also the UN sous Sherpa to the G20 finance and main tracks. He joined UNDESA in 2001 as a Senior Policy Adviser in the Division for Sustainable Development and a team member for the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002. He served as the Chief of Policy Coordination Branch and later Director of the Office for Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) support and the Director of Financing for Sustainable Development Office. He was the first head of the DESA Strategic Planning Unit, established in 2010. He was the Principal Officer in the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General, Vice-Chair of the UN High-Level Committee on Programming (HLCP) and Co-Coordinator of the UN team on the repositioning of the UN Development System that led to significant reforms in 2018. He has contributed several articles on financing and investing in the SDGs in various journals and reports. He holds an MIA in International Political Economy from Columbia University (NY) and an MA in English Literature from the Government College University (Lahore).

Stavros Lambrinidis

Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in New York

His Excellency Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis has been the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations since 1 January 2024. From 1 March 2019 to 31 December 2023, he served as European Union Ambassador to the United States. From 2012 to February 2019, he served as the EU Special Representative for Human Rights. In 2011, he was the Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece. Between 2004-2011, he was twice elected as a Member of the European Parliament with the Greek Social Democratic Party (PASOK). He has served as Vice-President of the European Parliament, Vice-President of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and Head of the PASOK Delegation. Between 2000-2004, Ambassador Lambrinidis was Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre, an International Olympic Committee organization. His other roles included Ambassador ad personam of the Hellenic Republic and Secretary-General of the Greek Foreign Ministry for Diaspora Greeks. Ambassador Lambrinidis was born in Athens in 1962. He studied Economics and Political Science at Amherst College (BA degree 1984) and Law at Yale Law School (JD degree 1988).

Stefanos Fotiou

Director, FAO Office of SDGs

Mr Stefanos Fotiou is an accomplished expert on sustainable development currently serving as Director for the Office of Sustainable Development Goals in FAO; under this capacity, he is also serving as Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. Before joining FAO, Stefanos served 16 years in the UN Secretariat, including six years as Director in the Environment and Development Division of the UNESCAP and ten years in the UNEP. Before joining the UN, he had worked for the private sector and academia on regional sustainable development issues. Throughout his career, Stefanos has taken leading roles in serving international UN fora and platforms and conceptualized and led the development of regional and national strategies for sustainable development. Mr Foutiou’s work has been published and referenced throughout his career. He holds a PhD in Natural Resource Economics, a Master of Science in Forestry and Natural Environment and a Master of Science in Information Systems.

Inaya Ezzeddine

Member of Parliament, Republic of Lebanon

Dr Inaya Ezzeddine, MD, Pathologist, is a distinguished medical and political figure. Serving as a Member of the Lebanese Parliament since 2018, Dr Ezzeddine holds several key positions, including Chair of the Women and Children Parliamentary Committee and the SDG2030 Agenda Parliamentary Commission. Additionally, she contributes her expertise to committees focusing on public health, labour, social affairs and foreign affairs. In May 2023, she was appointed the National Convenor for Food System Transformation, a groundbreaking role underscoring her dedication to addressing global food security challenges. Dr. Ezzeddine’s leadership within the Parliamentary Committee for Women and Children has been marked by significant legislative achievements, including criminalizing sexual harassment and reforms to promote gender equality in social security laws. She has also spearheaded initiatives to enhance labour laws, advocating for flexible work arrangements, expanded maternity leave, paternity leave and childcare subsidies. Beyond her legislative contributions, Dr Ezzeddine has been a driving force for institutional reform, advocating for transparency, anti-corruption measures and sustainable development across various sectors. Her advocacy for people-centred policies is exemplified by her draft bill on the “Right to Food,” informed by an extensive analysis of Lebanon’s legislative landscape.

Piedad Urdinola

General Director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics, Colombia

Piedad Urdinola is the Director General of DANE, the National Administrative Department of Statistics. She is a demographer with a degree in Economics from Universidad de Los Andes, where she earned her master’s degree in Economics. She obtained a master’s and a PhD in Demography and Population Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked as a researcher at Fedesarrollo, where she led Colombia's first longitudinal household survey, the Social Survey 2004-2005. Piedad was the co-director of the Latin American Human Mortality Database, director of the Demographic and Epidemiological Observatory of the Andean Area (ODEAN) and co-founder and co-director of the Latin American Human Mortality Database. She is also an Associate Professor at the Department of Statistics at Universidad Nacional. Piedad Urdinola has received numerous research awards and has been recognized as a visiting scholar at Stanford and Harvard universities.

Aline Mosnier

Scientific Director, FABLE Pathways Consortium

Aline Mosnier is the Scientific Director for the FABLE (Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-use, and Energy) Pathways Consortium. She works with researchers in more than 20 countries to develop long-term quantitative national pathways towards sustainable land use and food systems which are globally consistent. She created the FABLE Calculator, an open Excel-based model on the food and land system currently used in 24 countries and coordinated the development of the tool. Before joining SDSN, Ms Mosnier worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), contributing to developing the global partial equilibrium model GLOBIOM. Her work focused on international trade and trade policies for agricultural products, indirect impacts of biofuel policies, climate change impacts on agriculture and reduction of deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics. She has worked with teams from local research institutes on the co-development of regional versions of GLOBIOM in the Congo Basin, Brazil and Indonesia. Aline holds a PhD in Agricultural and Environment Economics from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences of Vienna and a Masters in Development Economics from CERDI-Université d’Auvergne of Clermont-Ferrand.

Meena Pokhrel

Deputy General Manager, Nepal Agriculture Co-operative Central Federation Limited (NACCFL)

Ms Meena Pokhrel is a dedicated member of the Cooperatives Working Group at WFO. She is the Deputy General Manager of the Nepal Agricultural Cooperative Central Federation Limited (NACCFL). With over 25 years of extensive experience in project planning, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, Ms Pokhrel brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. She is also a founder and member of the Board of Directors at the Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (HICAST). Ms Pokhrel has led numerous projects funded by organizations such as IFAD, the EU, DFID, the Asian Farmers Association (AFA) and Swiss Contact, focusing on agricultural value chains, institutional development, and skill/capacity development. She is a staunch advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 10 (Reduced Inequality) and Goal 13 (Climate Action), presenting these perspectives in forums across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Ms Pokhrel holds a Master’s degree in Botany from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and additional degrees in Environmental Science and Technology from IHE Delft, the Netherlands and Sustainable Ecosystem Management from Brown University, USA.

Shreyaa Venkat

Founder and CEO, nonprofit NEST4US, WFF Youth Policy Board Member

Shreyaa Venkat is the founder and CEO of NEST4US and a senior at Georgetown University, pursuing a bachelor's and accelerated master's degree in Global Health. At 21, she has over 14 years of volunteer experience and has dedicated more than 5 500 hours to community service. Shreyaa holds numerous leadership roles, including United Nations CSW Formal Delegate, Points of Light Network Leader, FAO World Food Forum Youth Policy Board Member and Clinton Global Initiative University Mentor. She is also involved with Giving Tuesday, YOUNGA, Good Deeds Day, and other organizations, connecting communities through innovative, intergenerational, and intercultural solutions. In addition to her volunteer work, Shreyaa is an honour roll student, travel soccer player, 3rd-degree black belt, certified soccer referee, Kathak dancer and martial arts instructor. Through her service, she actively promotes the UN Sustainable Development Goals and strives to create a united, just world, impacting tens of thousands globally.