The Global Network Against Food Crises continues to be a key avenue to address global food crises
14 October 2019, Rome - FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu today lauded Neven Mimica’s - the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development - contribution to the work of the Global Network Against Food Crises, calling it a “legacy”.
The FAO chief made the remarks today at the side-event of the Global Network Against Food Crises (a FAO-WFP-EU initiative launched in 2016) - Stopping and reversing the trends in food crises – during the UN’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS) held this week at FAO’s headquarters.
He also expressed FAO’s commitment to continue working with EU and WFP to come to the aid of people in need and respond to global food crises.
On his part, Neven Mimica reiterated the EU’s commitment to continue supporting the Global Network and expressed confidence that the FAO and WFP principals will further the work of the network, and together will all partners “will take this fantastic initiative forward”.
Organised by FAO, WFP and the European Union (EU), the event aimed to illustrate to CFS’s members and other stakeholders the current and potential role of the Global Network in addressing food crises, particularly with respect to the long-term viability of agri-food systems, which are increasingly under pressure and changing dramatically due to multiple and simultaneous threats.
The event focused on trends and challenges facing agri-food systems; the current food security situation in regions, such as Sahel, and countries affected by major food crises, related drivers and associated risks; the humanitarian and development financial flows to food crisis countries, with a focus on investments in agriculture, nutrition and food security.
As hunger needs rise and disasters strike with more frequency and intensity, speakers at the event also called for a more balanced allocation of funding to countries as well as humanitarian-development response, stressing the need for development players to continue investing or stepping up investments in long-term agricultural and development interventions in countries affected by food crises.
Currently, 113 million people worldwide find themselves in situations of acute hunger, meaning they cannot meet their daily food needs without humanitarian assistance, according to the last edition of the annual Global Report on Food Crises, released earlier this year by the Global Network.
Speakers at the event included David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, David Nabarro, Professor of Global Health at the Imperial College London, Djimé Adoum, Executive Secretary of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), and Abdi Jama, IGAD Head of IFRAH.