Yearender: 2015 sees global efforts for food security, sustainable agricultural development

In 2015, the members of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) achieved finally the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG-1) while tried their efforts for sustainable development.

However, many challenges are still ahead as threats from hunger and poverty, climate change, malnutrition and the other food-related problems remain.

WIPING OUT HUNGER POPULATION NEEDS A GENERATION

The Millennium Development Goals was put forward by world leaders in 2000 for halving the world's hunger population by 2015.

According to FAO data, the hunger reduction target was met by more than half of the FAO members. It means a small step toward worldwide elimination of hunger in the future, because nearly 800 million people still suffer from hunger and chronic undernourishment.

Today, a majority of the world's poor and hungry live in rural areas, and improving their livelihoods is the core challenge, according to FAO chief Jose Graziano da Silva.

Therefore, food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are key to achieving the whole set of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, a post-2015 agenda adopted by the international community in September this year.

CONTANING CLIMATE CHANGE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Earlier this month, some 200 countries, regions and organizations agreed to the world's first global climate deal in Paris. It was a moment of catharsis for many in the United Nations system, but for the Rome-based FAO, the milestone means the climate-related workload will increase in the coming year.

It was the first time ever, that "food security features in a global climate change accord", according to the FAO chief.

The Paris Agreement recognizes "the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the impacts of climate change".

Climate change is not a new issue for FAO: the organization has been studying the impacts and consequences of a changing climate on agriculture for years.

According to Martin Frick, director of FAO's Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, the Paris Agreement just means a shift in FAO's role.

"One of the big developments this year was the submissions of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in the lead up to Paris," Frick told Xinhua, a reference to a country's national plan for confronting climate change.

"FAO actually has a larger role after the Paris summit because it's time to start implementing the INDCs, and most of them have some agricultural component," he said.

FAO's responsibilities go far beyond climate issues, cutting across the spectrum include sustainable development, anti-poverty and anti-hunger initiatives, and agricultural and alimentation issues. But climate, Frick said, is of particular interest because it is a problem that has an impact across all the other areas.

Food prices, for example, are in a period of steady decline, according to FAO data.

Over the last 20 months, through November, world food prices have risen dramatically only once, FAO said that is due to smarted stockpiling off food staples, increased globalization, and smarter agricultural practices.

But Frick warned the world should not expect the trend to continue indefinitely.

"It takes very little to make food prices spike," he warned, mentioning severe weather or unexpectedly long droughts or rainy seasons as potential culprits.

"Small weather changes, like a rainy season that starts too late or lasts too long, can have a profound impact on agricultural production," Frick said, pointing out that these kinds of abnormal patterns are expected to become more common due to climate change.

"Traditional agricultural knowledge, traditional plant species, they aren't working anymore," said Frick.

He also said that as problems grow, there are fewer and fewer true regional problems.

He pointed to China's agricultural research work in Africa and the application of lessons learned in the Brazilian Amazon and the Congo basin as examples of finding international solutions to regional challenges.

"We think this kind of activity will and should become more common," Frick said.

NEED FOR BUILDING SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM TO FIGHT MALNUTRITION

The world also need a sustainable food system.

According to Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Director-General of FAO, current food systems are not delivering well on ensuring healthy diets for all.

"We have to fix the problem. The most efficient and sustainable approach will be to reshape and strengthen food systems," said Sundaram.

Sundaram said, the international community is facing several nutrition-related challenges. The health of more than half the world's over seven billion people is compromised by malnutrition.

According to statistics, despite abundant food supplies, almost 800 million people (or one in nine) still go hungry every day.

The health of at least another two billion people is compromised by various micronutrient deficiencies. Another 2.1 billion people are overweight, of whom about a third are obese, consuming more food than their bodies need, and exposing themselves to greater risk of diabetes, heart problems and other diseases.

In Sundaram's view, malnutrition in all its forms is an intolerable burden, not only on national health systems, but on the entire cultural, social and economic fabric. It is a major impediment to development and the full realization of human potential.

Increased food output, Sundaram observes, has put greater stress on natural resources, degrading soils, polluting and exhausting fresh water supplies, encroaching on forests, depleting wild fish stocks and reducing biodiversity. More intensive farming, combined with massive food wastage, have also made the problems worse.

Sundaram believes, current approaches to food production are simply not sustainable today, let alone in 2050, when we will have to feed nine billion people. "Fortunately, we have the means to transform our production systems and consumption patterns to ensure nutrition-sensitive food systems."

All key sectors and players throughout the food system must be involved to make better use of food systems for improved nutrition. This requires better governance, a common vision and, above all, political commitment and coherent leadership, fostering participation and consultation among all stakeholders, Sundaram stressed. Endit