Feeding those in hunger is a shared goal

World needs to work in partnership to tackle plight of the starving, say experts

There is a common misconception that having an appetite and being hungry are one and the same thing.

In fact the two experiences are worlds apart. The former may occur when you miss lunch and a couple of hours later you feel wanting or even slightly weak; the other occurs when you have insufficient food to meet your basic nutritional needs over a prolonged period.

Every day millions of men and women across the globe are in the latter category, struggling to feed themselves and their children properly, with 690 million people going to bed on an empty stomach each night, the World Food Programme, or the WFP, said.

Acute food insecurity affected 135 million people in 55 countries last year, the agency said, and one in three of those suffered from some form of malnutrition.

The world has made great progress in reducing hunger, there being 300 million fewer hungry people than in 1990- 92, but the world’s population has risen by 1.9 billion since then, so it is clear there is still a long way to go in getting anywhere near eradicating the problem.

As the COVID- 19 pandemic casts its long shadow it pushes many more to the edge of hunger and malnutrition.

To curb the spread of the virus, many countries can restrict transport and the movement of people, but such preventive measures also affect food supply chains and the price of food.

Despite generally stable global food prices, many countries are experiencing varying levels of food price inflation at the retail level, reflecting supply disruptions because of COVID- 19, currency devaluations and other factors, a World Bank report said.

Higher retail prices combined with reduced incomes mean more and more households are having to cut down on the quantity and quality of their food consumption, with potentially lasting effects on nutrition and health, the report said.

Several international organizations, including the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, jointly warned that an additional 130 million people could face acute food insecurity by the end of this year, in addition to the 135 million people in 55 countries feeling the effects of acute food insecurity even without taking into account the affects of climate change or civil conflict.

No one country or organization would be able to eradicate hunger and malnutrition working alone, and this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the WFP may be a realization that only a concerted effort can save humanity from further disaster.

The European Council President Charles Michel said the recognition was not only for the agency’s work on food security, but also to remind of “the key importance of multilateralism that delivers results”.

More succinctly, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, tweeted: “Multilateralism now more important than ever before.”

The agency said on its website: “If we want to see a world free of hunger by 2030, governments, citizens, civil society organizations and the private sector must collaborate to invest, innovate and create lasting solutions.”

In 2015 the world adopted 17 global goals for sustainable development to improve people’s lives by 2030.

Goal 2 — Zero Hunger — pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Donating food to those in need is a stopgap remedy rather than a longterm solution that reflects the Chinese saying that rather than giving someone a fish it is better to teach them to fish, and the WFP and its member states have increased support to governments through avenues such as south- south and triangular collaboration.

Involving two or more developing countries, such collaboration can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional basis. Participating countries can pool knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals.

In March 2016, for example, the WFP signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to renew and strengthen their partnership for ending global hunger. The agency hoped countries could learn from China through its experience and achievements in reducing hunger and malnutrition.

Based on the memorandum, the agency’s China office developed a country strategy plan for 2017 to 2021 with a budget of $ 29 million. The plan is in line with several national priorities, such as the 13th Five- Year Plan ( 2016- 20) and the Food and Nutrition Development Plan ( 2014- 20).

In 2018, 94 percent of the agency’s strategic plans integrated southsouth and triangular collaboration; 73 percent of the agency’s country offices played an active role in helping other countries formulate and implement national policies and programs, according to a UN report on the state of south- south cooperation last year.

Ensuring access

There is also a hunger in our world for international cooperation.”

Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary- general

The Food and Agriculture Organization, which leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security, has launched a COVID- 19 response and recovery program.

It provides an agile and coordinated global response that aims to ensure access to nutritious food for everyone by mobilizing all forms of resources and partnerships at the country, regional and global level.

The program also draws on the organization’s mobilizing power to lead global efforts through a flexible multilateral approach, which enables matchmaking between donors and those most in need of help.

“Everyone needs to lend a hand: governments, academia, the private sector, UN agencies, civil society organizations, international financial institutions and the people who bring us the food we eat,” said Qu Dongyu, the organization’s director general.

“And our hands need to be working in unison to overcome pandemics that by definition affect and involve everyone.”

David Beasley, executive director of the WFP, has said that the Nobel Prize it was awarded is not the agency’s alone but belongs to anyone involved in the battle against hunger.

“We work closely with governments, local and international organizations and private sector partners whose passion for helping the hungry and vulnerable equals ours. We could not possibly help anyone without them.”

The UN Secretary- General, Antonio Guterres, has said: “Solidarity is precisely needed now to address not only the pandemic, but other global tests of our time. There is also a hunger in our world for international cooperation.”

Berit Reiss- Andersen, head of the Nobel Committee, said the recognition sends a signal to every country that “raises objections to international cooperation”.

“Multilateral cooperation is absolutely necessary to combat global challenges.”