On the occasion of World Food Day, the United Nations called on Friday to redouble efforts to face the food crisis and fight against hunger in the world.
The day’s celebration around the rallying cry “Leave no one behind” comes as global food security continues to deteriorate and the number of people at grave risk of hunger explodes in Asia and Africa, it says. -on with the UN.
On this occasion, hundreds of related events took place in some 150 countries, including a call to action launched in more than 50 languages on digital billboards and creative initiatives to mark the event, including Kigali International Airport and the sites of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Niagara Falls and Piccadilly Circus in London.
According to the multilateral organization, this year’s edition comes at a time when global food security is threatened from all sides, with soaring food, energy and fertilizer prices adding to older factors such as the climate crisis and protracted conflicts. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to cause chain reactions, underlining how our economies and our lives are intertwined, notes the same source.
According to the latest report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the state of food security and nutrition in the world, 970,000 people are threatened by famine in Afghanistan, in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. To this figure must be added no less than 828 million people in 2021 and the 3.1 billion people who still cannot afford a healthy diet.
In his message on the occasion, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that World Food Day 2022 comes at “a difficult time for global food security”, urging stakeholders to mobilize together to move “from despair to hope and action”.