UN goal of ending hunger by 2030 risks failure as global food crisis worsens

July 16, 2023 / activist360

*The ‘three sisters’ are staple foods for many Native American tribes. Marilyn Angel Wynn/Getty Images*

Pandemic and war in Ukraine have pushed 122 million more people into hunger since 2019, according to new report.

By David Henry, Forests News

The number of people facing hunger in the world has risen by more than 122 million since 2019 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and weather shocks, according to a new United Nations report.

It is estimated that 691 million to 783 million people lacked sufficient food in 2022, affecting 9.2% of the global population compared with 7.9% in 2019, the year before the pandemic began, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2023 report, which is produced by five UN agencies.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) provide an annual update on the world’s progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition.

The 2023 report emphasized that the UN Sustainable Development Goal of creating a world free of hunger by 2030 risks failure if current trends continue. It is projected that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished at the end of the decade.

“The latest SOFI report highlights the urgent need to reverse the trends that undermine the world’s ability to achieve the goal of zero hunger by 2030,” says Éliane Ubalijoro, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF). “Trees, forests and agroforestry landscapes have a vital role to play in this process by helping address the interrelated challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, livelihoods and inequity.”

To help transform food systems, CIFOR-ICRAF is promoting the wide-scale adoption of agroecological approaches, including farmer-led strategies to increase tree cover and diversity across agricultural landscapes. And by providing evidence on how forests and trees contribute to people’s diets, it is raising awareness and influencing national policies to include forests and trees as part of national and local food systems.

‘’The SOFI 2023 report shows that in a world where regular crises become the new norm, increasing the resilience of agrifood systems is a priority,” says David Laborde, Director of the FAO Agrifood Economics Division (ESA). “Forestry has a key role to play in this system. The range of actions and opportunities is vast: from helping the regulation of water flows and mitigating the severity of heatwaves, to providing income diversification options and more robust integrated production systems.’’

While global hunger stabilized in 2022 alone, it continued to increase in some vulnerable countries, in particular in Africa. Seizing the opportunity provided by forests, either by rebuilding them in the Sahel region, or preserving their services in Central and Eastern Africa is part of reversing the hunger trend in these countries, Laborde says.

As it addresses five global challenges, CIFOR-ICRAF is committed to transforming food systems that are based on sustainable land management, equitable outcomes for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as well as supply chains that rely on sound environmental practices and social inclusion.

Trees can make a major contribution to boosting the productivity of farming systems and the lives of rural communities, who provide most of the world’s food. CIFOR-ICRAF facilitates this process by helping farmers choose the right tree for the right place for the right purpose on their farms and then to manage them effectively.

“Agroecology enables farmers to grow food while preserving soil health and improving the resilience of food systems,” says Fergus Sinclair, Chief Scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF. “The world produces enough food to feed nearly twice the current population, yet millions of people are still hungry. A greater emphasis on agroecology, including reducing food loss and waste, would help policymakers tackle this worsening global food crisis.”

The 2023 SOFI report highlighted that agroecology has a role to play in ending hunger by the end of the decade while offering other benefits. At plot, farm and landscape scales, it can help increase farmers’ incomes, improve food security and nutrition, use water more efficiently and enhance nutrient recycling, as well as conserve biodiversity and provide other ecosystem services.

Agrifood systems will also need to be viewed beyond the traditional rural-urban divide, according to the UN agencies. Due to population growth, small and intermediate cities and rural towns are increasingly bridging the space between rural areas and large metropolises, creating both challenges and opportunities to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthy diets.

Despite shrinking ‘Dead Zone’, Gulf Coast grapples with massive fish die-off

June 11, 2023 / activist360

*A shrimp boat trawls for shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. (Image credit: NOAA Fisheries)*

NOAA anticipated a remarkably smaller ‘Dead Zone’ in Gulf of Mexico this summer

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, an oxygen-deprived area spanning about 4,155 square miles that can prove lethal to marine life. This estimate, while significant, is lower than the 36-year average of 5,364 square miles. The dead zone occurs annually due to excessive nutrient pollution from human activities within the Mississippi River watershed.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) tracks key factors such as river discharge and nutrient loading, which contribute to the dead zone. In May 2023, there was a 33% decrease in river discharge, a 42% decrease in nitrate, and a 5% decrease in phosphorus levels compared to the long-term averages from 1980 to 2022. These nutrients instigate an algal bloom that, upon death and decay, depletes water oxygen levels, endangering marine life, especially bottom-dwelling species.

NOAA’s hypoxia forecasts are designed to help coastal managers and stakeholders proactively mitigate the impacts of hypoxia. The data also inform nutrient reduction targets aimed at curbing future dead zones. The Interagency Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force aims to reduce the dead zone to 1,900 square miles by 2035.

Despite smaller ‘Dead Zone’, thousands of fish perish on Texas Gulf Coast

The New York Times along with several other media outlets reported that on Friday, tens of thousands of fish started washing ashore along the Texas Gulf Coast due to a combination of environmental conditions that depleted oxygen levels in the warm waters. The incident was described as a “perfect storm” of poor conditions by Bryan Frazier, the director of Brazoria County Parks Department. Warm water holds less oxygen than cold water, and the calm, cloudy weather obstructed the usual ways oxygen is infused into ocean water. The fish are thought to have been trapped in shallow, warm water where the oxygen supply diminished.

Experts suggest that climate change could be contributing to such incidents as warmer waters become more common. Katie St. Clair, the sea life facility manager at Texas A&M University at Galveston, said that rising water temperatures could lead to more such events, especially in shallow, near-shore environments.

Frazier noted that these fish kills are not uncommon during warmer periods and predicted local water conditions would improve as ocean waves reintroduce oxygen and fish leave low-oxygen areas. However, the United Nations reported in 2019 that warmer ocean waters have increased incidences of hypoxia (low oxygen levels), posing threats to fish populations.

The fish kill could significantly impact the environment as the dead fish, primarily Gulf menhaden, play a crucial role in the local ecosystem. Clean-up operations are ongoing to prevent the dead fish from rotting in the midday heat.

How seed diversity can help protect our food as the world warms

April 2, 2023 / activist360

A new documentary explores the dangers that climate change poses to agriculture — and the seed savers who are working to make food systems more resilient.

By Charly Frisk, Yale Climate Connections

Planting seeds is a radically hopeful act. Sowing a seed is predicated on the idea that there will be a future — one that will support and nurture the seed.

Join young documentary filmmaker and climate storyteller Charly Frisk as she travels across Nordic regions to meet with people who are working to preserve the diversity of the world’s seeds. She encounters seed savers recovering ancient varieties from older generations, visits farmer’s markets that are revitalizing old traditions, and tours gene banks that are working at the intersection of science and culture.

A key take-away from the film is that the seeds used to grow food have become radically less diverse since the 1900s. In place of a profusion of varieties that vary across geographic regions — or within a single field — many farmers now use agricultural systems in which plants of a single food crop are genetically similar to each other. The world has lost 75% of seed diversity among food crops since the 1900s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

That lack of diversity presents a severe risk to the security of global food systems. Without seed diversity, it’s difficult for plants to adapt to pests, diseases, and changing climate conditions — a particular concern as the world warms. But the film offers hope that seed biodiversity will be preserved, ensuring our food systems are resilient to climate change — safeguarding the ancient, diverse, heirloom varieties that enrich our lives here on planet Earth.

Charly Frisk is a master’s student at the Yale School of the Environment.