New Delhi: There are 745 million more moderately to severely hungry people in the world today than in 2015, and the world is far off track in its efforts to meet an ambitious United Nations goal to end hunger by 2030, the U.N. said in a report on Friday (September 15). At the halfway point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world is seeing little to no improvement in most of the food and agriculture-related goals, said the report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, released ahead of a U.N. sustainable development summit next week in New York.
The lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other crises such as climate change and armed conflicts, are having widespread impacts. Progress made in the past two decades has stagnated, and in some cases even reversed.
Also Read: Early Childhood Malnutrition Sets Stage For Poor Growth: Study
Global food insecurity spiked sharply in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted food markets and drove up unemployment, but hunger has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. About 29.6 per cent of the global population – 2.4 billion people – was moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, up from 1.75 billion in 2015, the report said.
Undernourishment is worst in the global south, with hunger rising most in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The world has also seen no improvement towards a goal to halve food waste, which has remained at about 13 per cent since 2016. Countries should craft policy to reduce food loss, the report said.
Reuters reported last November that the lack of global progress on food waste is due to low public investment and clear policy, and wasteful consumer habits.
The world is also far from achieving goals to protect fish stocks, conserve forests, and reverse land degradation. Some progress has been made on water use efficiency and curbing illegal fishing.
Also Read: Haryana Government To Introduce Spirulina-Based Product To Combat Malnutrition
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
