Without peace, there will be no food security, and without food security, there will be no peace – that was the message of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Director-General José Graziano da Silva at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit as part of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Freeing the world from hunger and want is a fundamental contribution to lasting peace. Nelson Mandela’s centenary once again obliges us to recognize that promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms, as the right to food and to economic and social development, are key for achieving inclusive and peaceful societies as set out by the 2030 Agenda,” Graziano da Silva said in a statement.
The Peace Summit is in honor of the centenary of Mandela’s birth and saw global leaders renew their commitments to peace.
Sow food security today, harvest peace tomorrow
Today, 821 million people globally suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and the increase in recent years has been driven largely by conflict and climate extremes.
“We do not lack any evidence: where conflicts arise, hunger increases,” the Director-General said. “The relationship is direct, and the impact of wars and conflict on hunger and malnutrition is even worse if one considers that global military spending continues to increase while countries allocate scarce and sometimes decreasing resources to eradicate hunger and poverty,” he said.
Conflict and hunger are closely related, and most conflicts mainly affect rural areas, disrupting farming and limiting access to food. Peace can be a driver for eliminating hunger, and food security can often help mitigate and even prevent conflicts.
Original source: FAO
Published on 24 September 2018
