Global food crises and systemic change
The world needs a new global food security strategy, based on the right to food, giving priority to locally produced food from agroecological, small-scale food producers.
The world was still reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the right to food and nutrition when food price hikes hit new records in 2022.
Instead of getting closer to achieving the zero hunger Sustainable Development Goal by 2030, we face recurrent food crises, closely intertwined with climate collapse, war and proliferating conflicts, public health emergencies and ever-increasing levels of inequality.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization forecasts that the number of undernourished people may rise by an estimated 7.6 million in a moderate scenario, or by 13.1 million people in a severe shock scenario by 2023, adding to the 811 million already reported hungry in 2020.
FIAN advocates for the UN to review its food security approach, which is based on global trade. Global food value chains are extremely vulnerable to shocks. Food import dependency makes poor countries and people more vulnerable and less resilient. There is also an urgent need for global policies to address unfair trade and debt rules.
The world urgently needs a new global food security strategy, based on the right to food and the human rights principles of dignity, self-sufficiency and solidarity. This means a move away from fossil-fuel based industrial food systems and deregulated markets, putting curbs on financial speculation that impacts food prices, building food reserves at multiple levels and giving priority to locally produced food from agroecological, small-scale food producers.
