Brussels, 16/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On World Food Day, celebrated on 16 October, there were increased calls from within the European institutions and among NGOs for the EU to set a goal of “zero hunger” and “zero malnutrition” by 2030. At a time when 795 million people across the world still suffer from hunger and malnutrition, the opportunity was too good to miss.
The food- and nutrition-themed EXPO 2015 in Milan, which hosted the official ceremonies of World Food Day, naturally laid emphasis on Global Goal No 2 on eradicating hunger of the global programme for sustainable development recently adopted by the United Nations.
“World Food Day reminds us all of the huge progress that has been made in the fight against hunger, but also what still needs to be done. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen by almost half since 1990, yet one in nine people in the world today are still undernourished”, said MEP Linda McAvan (S&D, UK), who chairs the Parliament's development committee, on Thursday 15 October.
For a coherent approach on food safety. A delegation of MEPs from the development committee was due to hold a round table debate in Milan on Friday on human rights, the right to food and land rights. The round table will discuss the 2015 report on the “State of Food Insecurity in the World”, stressing the importance of smallholder farmers and social protection schemes in the battle to reach the zero hunger target by 2030. “A joined-up approach to food security is essential and must tackle gender inequalities, address access to land and secure tenure and the urgent need to tackle climate change”, underlined McAvan.
Funding of World Food Programme, time has come. ONE, the campaigning organisation against extreme poverty in the world, called on Friday for investment and a strong accountability framework “to set the path towards the (UN) Goal of zero hunger and malnutrition by 2030”. It also called on EU member states to honour the promise they made, at the highest level, to increase their contributions to the World Food Programme (WFP) which is woefully short of money. “The European Commission has recently stepped up its contributions to the World Food Programme in the context of the Syrian emergency. This is critical to addressing food security in times of crisis. EU member states must match these efforts and ensure that the WFP is fully funded”, said Tamira Gunzburg, director of ONE Brussels.
Research and innovation to help food security. On the eve of World Food Day, the European Commission welcomed the publication of a scientific study, the findings and recommendations of which were presented in Milan. This study shows how European research and innovation can help improve food and nutrition security around the globe. It calls on the EU to work with its partners to establish an international panel of experts on food and nutrition security to strengthen research efforts in this area. Other findings include the need to raise greater awareness of food security issues among policy makers and consumers/citizens; improve collaboration between farmers, research institutions, governments and industry and stimulate innovation across the food chain - from farm to plate - through a range of funding instruments, including at EU level.
The findings are part of a larger collection of scientific knowledge on the issue of food security and offer directions for future research and innovation actions at EU and international level, the European Commission says.
The recommendations have been prepared by the independent EU scientific committee chaired by former Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler and conclude the EU's scientific programme at EXPO 2015 which has been coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). EXPO 2015 will run until 31 October. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)