Global community falling short on eradicating hunger by 2030

The world was not on track to eradicate hunger and malnutrition by the international community’s goal of 2030, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today from many speakers as it took up agriculture development, food security and nutrition.

While today marked World Food Day there was “little cause for celebration”, said the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Two years since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the number of chronically undernourished people had increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016.

Pointing out that most of those lived in conflict‑affected countries, she said that food insecurity, degradation of natural resources, political instability, conflict and economic stagnation in rural areas were forcing many people to leave their homes. “Migration should be a choice and not a last resort,” she stated.

Malawi’s representative said some 1.3 billion people would be affected by water scarcity and 200 to 600 million would suffer from hunger by 2080 if the world did not accelerate implementation of the key parameters driving sustainable development.

To address such concerns, farms were now growing more with less by going vertical and indoors, said Singapore’s representative, adding that her country was using smart technologies to reduce reliance on manpower and vulnerability to environmental risks. Already some high‑tech farms were using 70 per cent less water, 50 per cent less labour and producing about six times the amount of vegetables and fish.

Indonesia had developed a planting calendar policy which guided farmers on the best time and place to farm to reduce risk of crop failures, said that country’s representative. The Government also promoted farmers’ education programmes and mentoring, improved water management systems, and research and development efforts focused on high yielding crop varieties.

The Philippines had designed a climate change resilient agriculture programme which monitored risk and hazards for farmers and fishermen through a colour‑coded map, said that country’s delegate. Efforts were also underway to develop food depots and storage facilities that could withstand typhoons.

Shantanu Mukherjee, Chief of the Policy Analysis Branch in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced the Secretary General’s report on agriculture development, food security and nutrition (document A/72/303). He said nutrition challenges had become increasingly complex and, alarmingly, rates of childhood obesity were increasing.

New food consumption patterns had meant a shift in consumer preferences towards nutritionally poor diets and increased the prevalence of obesity and nutrition‑related chronic non‑communicable diseases, said Jamaica’s representative.

“It is not only paradoxical, but unacceptable that whereas 2.1 billion people are overweight and obese, 842 million people are chronically food insecure,” he stated.

Also speaking were representatives of Ecuador (speaking for the Group of 77 “developing countries” and China), Myanmar (speaking for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Bangladesh (speaking for the Group of Least Developed Countries), Maldives (speaking for the Alliance of Small Island States), Guyana (speaking for Caribbean Community), El Salvador (speaking for Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), India, China, Israel, Russian Federation, Namibia, Tonga, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Costa Rica, Tajikistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Thailand, Ukraine, Gabon, Myanmar, Mali, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Lesotho, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Mongolia. Representatives from the Holy See and the International Chamber of Commerce also spoke.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 17 October, to discuss groups of countries.

Original source: United Nations.
Posted on 16 October 2017