Not only are healthy diets crucial for children's development and wellbeing, but the is part of the right to food too.
Food
In a world where one in eleven people goes hungry while tons of food are lost or wasted every day, it is time to end this troubling paradox. Approximately 13% of food is lost from harvest to retail, and 19% of global food production is wasted in households, food service, and retail. The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (29 September) urges us to prioritize innovative actions in reducing food loss and waste for more resilient and sustainable food systems. with and , join the and the message!
There are 734 million people going hungry around the world, 122 million more than in 2019, according to (SOFI). Launched by UN agencies including the FAO and , the report estimates 29.6 percent of the world’s population, around 2.4 billion people, had restricted access to food last year. This includes around 900 million people facing severe food insecurity amid worsening and intersecting crises. WFP needs US$25.1 billion to reach 171.5 million people around the world this year.
Heavy fighting continues as the prospect of acute hunger is becoming more likely by the day. In almost one month, hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting, over 150,000 have fled Sudan, and hundreds of thousands have become internally displaced, adding to those already displaced by previous conflicts.
In a world where tonnes of edible food is lost, leaving people hungry and small-scale farmers in poverty, temperature-controlled storage and transport of food is a solution. , the , and the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy are working with countries to find solutions to sustainably expand cold chain infrastructure, where viable, using renewable energy to power cooling.
To enhance inclusive access and management of natural resources, is working with local community leaders and local and regional authorities to establish peacebuilding and conflict resolution mechanisms. Through these initiatives, people are able to enhance fodder production, restore grazing lands and keep their livestock safe from drought.
Jhumi is taking online training through a WFP-supported online portal to bridge the gap in digital literacy. Across countries and cultures “food and meal preparations” are often the work of women, but it does not mean they have the power of decision-making in how to use the resources of their households to ensure food security. If women have lower education rates, limited access to information such as weather forecasts, market information, limits on having capital assets, then changing the inequality in wider food systems becomes harder. Partnerships are key to empowering women in developing countries with computer literacy skills and greater digital inclusion requires “good partnership at education level, with bodies that can provide the equipment, IT companies for having access to WiFi.
Edible insects are an underutilized resource that can help meet our growing demands for nutritious food and animal feed while caring for our planet. highlights three reasons why insects should be on the menu.
In Syria after years of conflict, 12 million people are food insecure. Goodwill Ambassador George Stroumboulopoulos visited the country in September to see what life is like for people wrestling with unrelenting crises for all this time. In Aleppo he met Ghufran, a former Taekwondo champ, who said her martial arts training helps combat hard times. Ghufran took on cleaning, cooking, and tutoring jobs, to make a living for herself and her three children. But last year as economic downturn led to skyrocketing prices across the country, Ghufran’s income fell short of making ends meet. She turned to WFP, which provides monthly food assistance for families like Ghufran’s. Find out more about Ghufran’s .
Have you ever wondered why some communities today constantly face extreme hunger? There’s a common saying that goes: “Give a person a fish and they will have dinner for the night but teach them to fish and they’ll never have to worry about food again”. It sounds easy enough, but what happens in the event of a disaster? What if the lake dries up? How do small-scale food producers survive emergencies? Watch this video to find out.
Due to the devasting fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sahar and her husband were among the young Gazans left with an income barely allowing them to get by. They could scarcely keep their family business afloat. Today, their products are quickly snapped up by local residents across the Gaza Strip. Sahar’s fortunes changed dramatically last year thanks to a joint UN initiative to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on women entrepreneurs. Targeting small and medium businesses, the programme rolled out by the and four sister UN agencies, developed the skills and capacities of 40 women-led agribusinesses in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Find out more about the programme .
Heatwaves, droughts, floods, and storms are increasing in intensity and frequency and impacting people’s ability to feed their families. As world leaders prepare to meet in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt for the UN Climate Change Conference (), is calling on world leaders to act swiftly to help millions of people facing rising hunger and famine. The UN agency is urging global leaders to invest in systems that predict climate hazards and provide physical and financial protection to the most vulnerable. It is calling on world leaders to invest in climate action in communities in fragile contexts and to transform food systems. about the coordinated action needed to tackle the climate crisis.
A recent shows how the Black Sea Grain Initiative, effected to resume exports of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea amid the ongoing war, has offered hope and shown the power of trade in times of crisis. The report underlines why it’s critical to renew the initiative next month. Thanks to the initiative, port activity in Ukraine is picking up and large shipments of grain are reaching world markets. The total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported through the initiative had reached almost 8 million metric tons.
The shrinking value of the currencies of most developing economies is driving up food and fuel prices in ways that could deepen the food and energy crises already faced by many, according to the ’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook report. Because of currency depreciations, almost 60 percent of oil-importing emerging-market and developing economies saw an increase in domestic oil prices, even as prices decline in U.S. dollar terms.