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The International Union of Nutrition Sciences (IUNS) has declared Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, who is also chairing the Coalition for Sustainable Nutrition Security in India (the Nutrition Coalition) and former president of Nutrition Society of India (NSI) as living legend at its 20th International Congress of Nutrition held in Grenada, Spain 2103.
A plant geneticist by training, Prof Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the ever green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to a ever green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture, and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Prof Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, the first World Food Prize in 1987, and Volvo and Tyler Prize for Environment, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2000 and the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize of UNESCO in 2000 and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award (2007).
The International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) is the umbrella organization for nutrition societies all over the world. The IUNS has a special consultative status with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Administrative Committee on Coordination/Subcommittee on Nutrition and is an associate member of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations University (UNU). It has close cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and various ICSU bodies, and with the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), including establishing joint committees and working groups.
The IUNS does not have individuals as members; instead a country may have a scientific society as a representative member called an adhering body of the IUNS. As of now the number of adhering bodies associated with IUNS is 82.