The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) Special Launch Event The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021: Transforming Food Systems for Food Security, Improved Nutrition and Affordable Healthy Diet
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
12/07/2021
The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)
Special Launch Event
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021:
Transforming Food Systems for Food Security, Improved Nutrition and
Affordable Healthy Diets for All
Statement by
Dr QU Dongyu FAO Director-General
As prepared
12 July 2020
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. In 2020, up to 811 million people faced hunger in the world.
2. This means as many as 161 million people more than in 2019.
3. More than half of the world’s undernourished are found in Asia (418 million) and more than one third in Africa (282 million).
4. Unless we take urgent action, around 660 million people may still face hunger in 2030;
5. in part due to lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food security.
6. Nearly 2.37 billion people did not have access to adequate food in 2020.
7. This is an increase of 320 million people in just one year.
8. The current rate of global progress on child stunting, exclusive breastfeeding, and low birthweight is insufficient.
9. Progress in addressing child overweight, child wasting, anaemia in women and adult obesity is stalled or worsening.
10. The world is not on track to achieve global targets for any of the nutrition indicators by 2030.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
11. On behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and together with our four partner agencies, I am pleased to present to you the 2021 Edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).
12. This is the fifth time we produce this report jointly,
13. and the third time we launch it in a special event during the High Level Political Forum.
14. The world is at a critical juncture;
15. very different to where it was six years ago, when it committed to the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
16. Healthy diets continue to be out of reach for around 3 billion people,
17. because to their high costs and due to the high levels of poverty and income inequality.
18. Millions of children are still affected by stunting, wasting or overweight,
19. while adult obesity continues to increase in all regions.
20. Disruptions in essential nutrition interventions and the negative impacts on dietary patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged access to adequate nutrition.
21. These setbacks hide some important achievements –
22. such as the increasing prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of infants under 6 months.
23. Six years ago, we were optimistic that past progress would keep us on track to achieve this goal,
24. but trends have shown we are not going in the right direction.
25. The pandemic made the pathway towards our goal even steeper.
26. But it has also widely exposed the fragilities of our agri-food systems,
27. giving us a unique opportunity to build forward better.
28. We have less than a decade to do so, and prove that our commitment and actions were bold enough.
29. We must not hesitate to act when a UN report like the SOFI puts such staggering evidence in front of us.
30. The theme of SOFI this year is “Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all”
31. It is well aligned with widespread recognition that food systems are central to building forward better.
32. The report focuses on the food component of the agri-food systems, but the transformation needed will affect the entire agri-food systems.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
33. Economic downturns, climate extremes and conflict are the major drivers behind food insecurity and malnutrition in many parts of the world, even before the pandemic.
34. In countries with high levels of inequality - in all its dimensions - these major drivers affected peoples’ food security and nutrition even more.
35. The measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 resulted in unprecedented economic downturns.
36. In low- and middle-income countries, these economic downturns, sometimes in interaction with climate extremes and conflicts, have led to increases in hunger.
37. Increases that are five times greater than the highest surges of the last twenty years.
38. We should also acknowledge that the situation could have been worse without governments’ responses and the impressive social protection measures they have put in place.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
39. When launching this report last year, we said that the SDGs demand from us to think “out of the box” and to see how our efforts towards one goal enable progress towards other goals.
40. We have no choice but to transform the agri-food systems to address the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition.
41. The UN Food Systems Summit 2021 is an opportunity to bring forward a series of concrete solutions and actions.
42. The report this year identifies six transformation pathways to address the negative impacts of the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition:
• integrating humanitarian, development and peacebuilding policies in conflict-affected areas;
• scaling up climate resilience across food systems;
• strengthening economic resilience of the most vulnerable to economic adversity;
• intervening along the food supply chains to lower the cost of nutritious foods;
• tackling poverty and structural inequalities, ensuring interventions are pro-poor and inclusive; and
• strengthening food environments and changing consumer behaviour to promote dietary patterns with positive impacts on human health and the environment.
43. These transformative pathways will only work with coherent policies and actions to minimize the negative consequences of change, while maximizing its benefits.
44. We will also need systems approaches for building coherent portfolios of policies, investments and legislation that become win-win solutions, including:
• territorial approaches like our flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative;
• ecosystems approaches;
• Indigenous Peoples’ food systems approaches; and
• interventions that systemically address protracted crisis conditions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
45. We stand firmly committed to work in partnerships for the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
Thank you.