Food insecurity soaring across 20 hunger hotspots
27/1/2022: UN food agencies are warning that food insecurity is soaring across 20 countries. In particular. Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen have areas where people are experiencing, or projected to experience, starvation and death.
Source: UN News
Drought-affected Horn of Africa at risk of hunger crisis
17/1/2022: In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the countries worst affected by three years of drought, projections indicate that 25 million people will face high acute food insecurity by mid-2022. The UN says that $130 million of aid is urgently needed to provide time-critical assistance.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Soil salinization threat to global food security
3/12/2021: A UN report estimates that more than 10% of the world's cropland is salt-affected, posing a major risk to global food security. The worst affected regions are in Central Asia, the Middle East, South America, North Africa and the Pacific.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Delay casts pall over WTO bid to end harmful fishing subsidies
2/12/2021: Hopes that the World Trade Organization would finally reach an agreement to ban subsidies that cause overfishing have been dashed by the indefinite postponement of the ministerial meeting due to the Omicron variant. The latest draft agreement shows considerable progress over the last year.
Source: Mongabay
Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks
23/11/2021: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major driver of the latest rise in global hunger estimates. A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warns that risks of further unpredictable shocks should be addressed in global agrifood systems.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Billions pledged, but UN food summit fails to heal divisions
28/9/2021: The UN Food Systems Summit has encouraged countries to implement their declared “national pathways” to food security, supported by a new coordination hub led by the three Rome-based UN food agencies and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. But fundamental disagreements about global food strategies remain.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Food Systems Summit urges swift action by 2030
24/9/2021: The troubled UN Food Systems Summit has been held on the sidelines of the General Assembly. The US government has committed $5 billion over 5 years for USAID’S Feed the Future program. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also announced a $922 million, five-year commitment.
Source: Devex
UN report calls for repurposing of agricultural subsidies
14/9/2021: A new UN report finds that 87% of annual government farm subsidies totalling $540 billion includes measures that are both price distorting and harmful to nature and health. Reform of support for the agricultural sector will benefit our planet.
Source: UN Environment Programme
Rival visions compete as UN gears up for summit to defeat hunger
26/7/2021: Debate is heating up on whether the famines of tomorrow will best be prevented by intensive production – driven by technology – or by smaller-scale, eco-friendly practices. Many activists and farmers’ groups are boycotting preparations for September’s first-ever UN Food Systems Summit.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Food systems drive a third of greenhouse gas emissions
20/4/2021: A new study concludes that food systems contribute 25% to 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions, taking account of the growing of food, its distribution, its consumption and its disposal. Experts say that reform is needed to make food systems function within the Earth’s planetary boundaries.
Source: Mongabay