(VOVWORLD) - The Global Food Security Summit in London on Monday focused on international efforts to apply technology and connect innovative ideas on agriculture to build a new, more sustainable global food system and prevent food insecurity worldwide.
 UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses the Global Food Security Summit 2023. (photo: Dan Kitwood/ PA) |
The Global Food Security Summit was held at the initiative of the UK, Somalia, the UAE, and organizations such as the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Summit takes place with global food security being eroded by violent conflicts, political instability, and climate change.
Increasing global food insecurity
UN figures show that more than 345 million people worldwide are living in severe food insecurity. That’s 120 million more people than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes 40 million suffering emergency levels of hunger and at risk of dying from malnutrition, classified as Phase 4 in the UN’s five-level Acute Food Insecurity Classification.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says 2.4 billion people are suffering from moderate to severe food insecurity, nearly 30% of the world’s population. The UN has warned that the world will not be able to achieve the goal of hunger elimination by 2030 as planned.
 Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) Carl Skau (photo: 21stcenturychronicle.com) |
The UN’s August report Food Crisis 2023 gave alarming figures on child malnutrition worldwide. Last year 148 million children under 5 were starving and 45 million more were wasting away. Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) Carl Skau said economic and security instability in the world is making the food and nutrition crisis worse.
“The largest food and nutrition crisis in history today persists. Conflict and insecurity remain the primary drivers of acute hunger around the world, along with climate change, unrelenting disasters, persistent food price inflation and mounting debt stress, all during a slowdown in the global economy,” Skau said.
Another factor worsening global food insecurity is the recent cut of the WFP's budget, making it hard to sustain relief work in many crisis areas. On September 12 the WFP said its budget deficit had reached a record 60%. It has eliminated or scaled back activities of 38 of 86 relief programs, endangering 24 million people enduring famine.
Seeking sustainable measures
This year's Global Food Security Summit in London is focused on finding new approaches to ending preventable deaths of children, mobilizing scientific research to ensure food security, forecasting and preventing famines and food crises, building a sustainable global food system, and responding better to climate change.
The UK announced the establishment of the UK-CGIAR Centre for Collaboration and Innovation in Science and Technology to revolutionize global food security efforts. The Center will connect agricultural innovation initiatives around the world to develop crops that are more resistant to climate change and diseases, and build a new, more sustainable global food system. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said British studies of new crop varieties are helping 100 million African people and the UK wants to replicate that model globally.
Sunak said: “We’re launching a new UK-CGIAR Science Center to drive cutting edge research on flood tolerant rice, disease resistant wheat and much more. These innovations will reach millions across the poorest countries as well as improving UK crop yields and driving down food prices.”
To respond to urgent food crises around the world, representatives attending the Summit from 20 countries and international organizations have made financial commitments.
The UK said it will send 125 million USD to hotspots of food insecurity such as Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Malawi, and the Sahel region. It will give another 125 million dollars to help Somalia develop agriculture less vulnerable to climate change.
The UK promised to give 20 million dollars to the International Fund for Child Nutrition. UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Al Mheiri called on countries and organizations to make a sustainable response to climate change one of the themes of the UN Climate Conference COP28, which will begin on November 30th in Dubai, the UAE.