“Extreme poverty, child mortality, and hunger all fell by around half between 1990 and 2015,” thanks to the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000, says the International Food Policy Research Institute in its 2016 Global Food Policy Report. The report, which is compiled by food-policy experts and researchers, looks at new developments in international food policy, including climate change, smallholder farmers, sustainable diets, food waste and water management.
While the UN’s efforts have eased food insecruity, the report is clear that much work remains to be done: “Natural and human disasters had major impacts on food security [in 2015]. Continued slow economic growth, particularly in China and Russia, combined with low oil prices reduced food security in Central Asia and the Arab region, and have slowed growth throughout Asia and Latin America. The expanding conflict in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen led to unprecedented numbers of displaced persons and refugees, with global impacts.”
The report also points to conflicts in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan, and in Central America, as slowing anti-hunger efforts. And researchers say severe drought conditions in Ethiopia, caused by El Niño, have left more than 8 million people in need of food aid.
Here are some other highlights from the report:
Climate Change: Every year, an area the size of Nicaragua (roughly 12 million hectares of land) is degraded due to drought and desertification.
Obesity and hunger: Worldwide, there are more than two and half times the number of overweight people than undernourished people. But even as obesity is on the rise, 800 million people around the globe don’t have enough to eat and one-third of the human race is malnourished.
Gender Inequality: Climate change will hit women harder than men, because female landowners frequently don’t have the same access to irrigation resources. “According to the FAO, women with equal access to resources can increase yields by almost 30 percent and reduce the number of undernourished people by 17 percent. Removing those inequalities could reduce the number of undernourished people by up to 150 million,” says the report.
Disappearing Water: “Unless significant changes are made in global water consumption, most people will live under severe water shortage conditions by 2050,” reports the institute. Eight-five percent of global water is used for crop irrigation, making the adoption of crops like C4 rice, which can double water efficiency, critical for feeding the world’s population.