Today Is World Food Day

World Food Day sees call for bolder action to make healthy and sustainable diets available to all
Global ceremony in Rome highlights need to step up actions to make ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms possible by 2030

Chef Ron Pickarski dicing vegetables and herbs for his meal, Colorado.

16 October 2019, Rome - At the global World Food Day ceremony today speakers called for bolder and faster action across sectors to make healthy and sustainable diets available and affordable for all.


This year's World Food Day - with the theme "Our actions are our future. Healthy diets for a #ZeroHunger world" - takes place in the context of rising global hunger but also increasing overweight and obesity. FAO and its partners believe that affordable solutions to reduce all forms of malnutrition exist, but they require greater global commitment and action.


"Collective action is the high road to tackling a global challenge such as hunger in the world," said Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in his keynote speech.


The Prime Minister gave reassurance of Italy's support for a "vision of integrated agriculture that supports the planet and cultural identity", and stressed the need to understand development "as a genuine international collaboration, as politics in the noblest sense" to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


Both Conte and FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu welcomed an announcement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres of the convening of a UN Food Systems Summit in 2021 as part of the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs. Conte proposed that Italy host the event, and was thanked by Qu for the offer.


In a World Food Day video message Guterres called rising hunger "unacceptable" as the world wastes more than 1 billion tonnes of food every year.


Pope Francis in a special message read out at the event, stressed that the "battle against hunger and malnutrition will not end as long as the logic of the market prevails and profit is sought at any cost".


The pontiff urged for a cultivation of lifestyles inspired by gratitude, moderation and solidarity, and the need to promote economic institutions and social initiatives that support the poor.


"We must come to realize that what we are accumulating and wasting is the bread of the poor," Pope Francis added.


In his opening remarks, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu warned how "hunger and malnutrition will be major barriers to achieving the SDGs by 2030 if we do not act now!"


The FAO chief stressed the importantce of collaboration and the role everyone needs to play - from governments, food companies, the public sector, research instituions to consumers - to make progress towards enabling healthy diets for all, and to halt and hopefully reverse the current trend of rising hunger, overwight and obesity.


"We need strong political will and commitment. We need to invest in nutrition and for nutrition. We need to walk hand-in-hand and build healthy and sustainable food systems," added the FAO Director-General.


The FAO chief anounced the UN agency's biennial theme for 2020-2021 - Promoting healthy diets and preventing all forms of malnutrition - and reaffirmed FAO's committment to the global goal of ending hunger and malnutrtion in all its forms by 2030.


In his remarks, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Gilbert F. Houngbo said: "We can reach our commitment to end hunger. Our success will depend on transforming global food systems so that they are inclusive of women, youth and indigenous peoples. So that they are sustainable - environmentally, socially, and economically. And so that they contribute to healthy diets for all. With the right policies and the right investments in agricultural and rural development we can create a food secure world where both hunger and poverty are dramatically reduced."


David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) for his part echoed the call to end food waste and urged individuals around the world to join WFP's campaign to #StopTheWaste: "The amount of food wasted globally is enough to feed another 2 billion people, so in a world where every five seconds a child dies from preventable causes like hunger and malnutrition this is totally unacceptable. We have a solution to hunger in our hands, just by being better stewards of the food we already have. If we all come together, and work together, we can achieve Zero Hunger - but we must not rest until every child, everywhere, goes to bed with a full stomach."


Sergio Mattarella, Italy's President sent a message a support, highlighting that "food insecurity is certainly one of the worst consequences of climate change".


Ministers from several countries also spoke at the event - a testimony of the importance of making healthy diets accessible and affordable for all.


They were: Edward Francisco Centeno Gadea Minister for Agriculture of Nicaragua, Kassoum Denon Minister Commissioner for Food Security of Mali, Elina Kalkku Vice Minister, Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Mariam bint Saeed Hareb Al Mehairi Minister of State for Food Security of the United Arab Emirates. Joaquim José Gusmão dos Reis Martins Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries of Timor-Leste sent a message of support.


Read full article here; FAO