The United Nations Food Systems Summit in New York City this September called on humanity “to end hunger and protect the planet.” Sounds noble–even uplifting–until we acknowledge this sad truth: Nearly fifty years ago at the United Nations’ first World Food Conference, governments also set out such a lofty goal, declaring a vision for eradicating “hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition within a decade.” A decade?
You could say we missed that mark, big time. Even before COVID-19, undernourishment had been rising. As many as 811 million are now hungry, defined as not even getting enough calories, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). And by a wider, more useful measure, the FAO estimates a staggering one in three of us worldwide lack “access to adequate food.”
The second tragedy is that so many world leaders still don’t get it. The Food Systems Summit for the most part kept the focus on what corporate-chemical farming offers–as if
— source commondreams.org | Frances Moore Lappé, Anna Lappe | Dec 07, 2021