World Food Day
This year’s observance of World Food Day follows the landmark adoption by world leaders of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including a set of 17 goals to guide our work towards a future of dignity and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.
How we choose to grow, process, distribute and consume the food we eat has a profound effect on people, planet, prosperity and peace. Delivering on the promise of the 2030 Agenda will not be possible without rapid progress towards ending hunger and undernutrition. In the same way, delivering on the commitment to end hunger forever, for all people, will not be possible without major gains across the new Agenda.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 summons us to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The world has achieved important progress; since 2000, the proportion of undernourished people has declined by nearly half. At the same time, in a world where nearly a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, and where we produce enough food to feed everyone, almost 800 million people still suffer from hunger. The path out of poverty is proving to be too slow for too many.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) theme for World Food Day 2015 is Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty. As in 1945 – when the UN and the FAO were founded – investing in agriculture is still the most effective way to lift people out of poverty in rural areas, and to protect them from natural disasters such as drought.
As we commemorate World Food Day in PNG, we are very aware that more than 2.4 million Papua New Guineans are in distress as a result of El Nino and the resulting drought. Already many communities, especially across the seven highlands provinces, are falling short of food and water. The combined effects of drought, frost and forest fires have destroyed food crops and cash crops and affected livestock numbers. Coastal communities are also suffering from the lack of rainfall, as it affects their access to clean water. If the El Nino event continues as predicted until March 2016, it is likely that the number of people affected will rise significantly.
UN Resident Coordinator Roy Trivedy said a partnership approach would help support communities in need. “We are seeing the resilience and strength of communities right now as they deal with the effects of this severe El Nino event,” Mr Trivedy said. “The UN System is working closely with the Government of PNG, and with the churches and community organisations, to try to ensure that these communities are supported to get through this difficult weather period.”
Local celebrations: the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, in collaboration with the Central Provincial Administration, will be organising a World Food Day celebration on 16 Oct 2015 in Bereina, Central Province. Events start at 9am and include prayer, dancing and addresses by FAO and Government of PNG Representatives.
BACKGROUND
As well as being the 35th observance of World Food Day, 2015 will also see the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the formation of the United Nations and the FAO. The FAO has made some important global progress in that time. 73 out of 129 countries monitored by FAO have achieved Millennium Development Goal 1, having halved the proportion of hungry people. The number of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries has also fallen, down to 17 percent this year compared with 43 percent in 1990. On the other hand, progress has been uneven among countries and regions and today around 800 million people still suffer from hunger, while almost one billion people continue to live in extreme poverty.
Ending hunger around the world is an important action under the new Global Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was agreed upon by 193 countries at the UN Global Development Summit held in New York in September. Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Meeting this target will be fundamental to achieving the other sustainable development goals, because health, education and economic development cannot be improved without better food security and nutrition.
In Papua New Guinea, FAO has provided technical assistance to the Government of Papua New Guinea for the development of key national agricultural strategies such as the National Agriculture Development Plan (2007- 2016), and the previous National Food Security Policy (2000-2010). FAO is currently supporting the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) for the formulation of a new National Food Security Policy, for the period 2016-25.
If you would like any further information, comment or interview please don’t hesitate to contact Karen Hall, UN Communications Officer, karen.hall@undp.org +675 7068 2041.
How we choose to grow, process, distribute and consume the food we eat has a profound effect on people, planet, prosperity and peace. Delivering on the promise of the 2030 Agenda will not be possible without rapid progress towards ending hunger and undernutrition. In the same way, delivering on the commitment to end hunger forever, for all people, will not be possible without major gains across the new Agenda.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 summons us to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The world has achieved important progress; since 2000, the proportion of undernourished people has declined by nearly half. At the same time, in a world where nearly a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, and where we produce enough food to feed everyone, almost 800 million people still suffer from hunger. The path out of poverty is proving to be too slow for too many.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) theme for World Food Day 2015 is Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty. As in 1945 – when the UN and the FAO were founded – investing in agriculture is still the most effective way to lift people out of poverty in rural areas, and to protect them from natural disasters such as drought.
As we commemorate World Food Day in PNG, we are very aware that more than 2.4 million Papua New Guineans are in distress as a result of El Nino and the resulting drought. Already many communities, especially across the seven highlands provinces, are falling short of food and water. The combined effects of drought, frost and forest fires have destroyed food crops and cash crops and affected livestock numbers. Coastal communities are also suffering from the lack of rainfall, as it affects their access to clean water. If the El Nino event continues as predicted until March 2016, it is likely that the number of people affected will rise significantly.
UN Resident Coordinator Roy Trivedy said a partnership approach would help support communities in need. “We are seeing the resilience and strength of communities right now as they deal with the effects of this severe El Nino event,” Mr Trivedy said. “The UN System is working closely with the Government of PNG, and with the churches and community organisations, to try to ensure that these communities are supported to get through this difficult weather period.”
Local celebrations: the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, in collaboration with the Central Provincial Administration, will be organising a World Food Day celebration on 16 Oct 2015 in Bereina, Central Province. Events start at 9am and include prayer, dancing and addresses by FAO and Government of PNG Representatives.
BACKGROUND
As well as being the 35th observance of World Food Day, 2015 will also see the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the formation of the United Nations and the FAO. The FAO has made some important global progress in that time. 73 out of 129 countries monitored by FAO have achieved Millennium Development Goal 1, having halved the proportion of hungry people. The number of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries has also fallen, down to 17 percent this year compared with 43 percent in 1990. On the other hand, progress has been uneven among countries and regions and today around 800 million people still suffer from hunger, while almost one billion people continue to live in extreme poverty.
Ending hunger around the world is an important action under the new Global Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was agreed upon by 193 countries at the UN Global Development Summit held in New York in September. Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Meeting this target will be fundamental to achieving the other sustainable development goals, because health, education and economic development cannot be improved without better food security and nutrition.
In Papua New Guinea, FAO has provided technical assistance to the Government of Papua New Guinea for the development of key national agricultural strategies such as the National Agriculture Development Plan (2007- 2016), and the previous National Food Security Policy (2000-2010). FAO is currently supporting the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) for the formulation of a new National Food Security Policy, for the period 2016-25.
If you would like any further information, comment or interview please don’t hesitate to contact Karen Hall, UN Communications Officer, karen.hall@undp.org +675 7068 2041.
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