The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) has released, as part of its THE STATE OF THE WORLD series, the flagship publication titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019.
Safeguarding against economic slowdowns and downturns”.
From the Foreword:
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
puts forward a transformational vision
recognizing that our world is changing,
bringing with it new challenges that must be
overcome if we are to live in a world without
hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in
any of its forms.
The world population has grown steadily,
with most people now living in urban
areas. Technology has evolved at a dizzying
pace, while the economy has become
increasingly interconnected and globalized.
Many countries, however, have not witnessed
sustained growth as part of this new economy.
The world economy as a whole is not growing
as much as expected. Conflict and instability
have increased and become more intractable,
spurring greater population displacement.
Climate change and increasing climate
variability and extremes are affecting
agricultural productivity, food production
and natural resources, with impacts on food
systems and rural livelihoods, including a
decline in the number of farmers. All of this
has led to major shifts in the way in which
food is produced, distributed and consumed
worldwide and to new food security,
nutrition and health challenges.
This is the third year that we have jointly
produced The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. It reaffirms our commitment to working together to overcome these emerging challenges and free the world from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Recent editions of the report showed that the
decline in hunger the world had enjoyed for
over a decade was at an end, and that hunger
was again on the rise. This year, the report
shows that the global level of the prevalence
of undernourishment has stabilized; however,
the absolute number of undernourished people
continues to increase, albeit slowly.
We must recognize the importance of
safeguarding food security and nutrition in
times of economic difficulty. We must invest
wisely during periods of economic booms
to reduce economic vulnerability and build
capacity to withstand and quickly recover
when economic turmoil erupts. We must
foster pro-poor and inclusive structural
transformation focusing on people and
placing communities at the centre to reduce
economic vulnerabilities and set ourselves on
track to ending hunger, food insecurity and
all forms of malnutrition while leaving no
one behind.
The report is available at http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162en/ca5162en.pdf
FAO, 2019