The United Nations Food Organization's report on world hunger is alarming. Across the planet, more than 750 million people experience severe food insecurity. If this continues, most countries will not be able to meet goal number two of the UN 2030 Agenda: zero hunger.
On the same day that the Hunger Map was released, in Rio de Janeiro, the G20 approved a preview of what will be the document of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, a proposal by the Brazilian presidency of the group to guarantee food security around the world. Among the measures, taxation of the super-rich is defended as a way of financing actions to fight hunger.
“Hunger is not the result of external factors. It is, above all, the result of political choices. Today, the world produces more than enough food to eradicate [hunger]. What is missing is creating the conditions for access to food,” said the president.
The data on hunger in Brazil are a little more encouraging. According to the Federal Government, from 2022 to 2023 there was an 85% drop in the total number of people facing severe food insecurity in the country: from 17 million to 2 million. According to the United Nations report evaluating the 2021-2023 period, the drop in malnutrition was 33% in Brazil.
Pedro Vasconelos, an advisor to Fian Brasil, lists a series of political measures the current federal government has resumed after years of previous administration ended
“We have a new food acquisition program, the solidarity kitchen program, a decree on food and nutritional security in municipalities, which talks about a national food supply policy. So, there are a series of initiatives aiming to recover the virtuous trajectory Brazil has already had in terms of guaranteeing the right to food, albeit in a different context," he said.
To Vasconcelos, although there is a visible government effort to overcome hunger, millions of Brazilians still face difficulties getting food. The federal administration must recalculate the route and guarantee that food security policies work properly.
"We have, for example, a government perspective in favor of healthy food. However, we have little budget or dedication to promoting truly adequate nutrition. [Reducing the use of] Pesticides, for example, is largely ignored by the government. Structuring the Nutritional Food Security System – which is what organizes people's access to public policies, organizes how you can demand your right to food – also needs to be better structured," she said.
Another of Brazil’s challenges to reach goal number two of the UN 2030 Agenda – end hunger in the country – is the worsening of climate change. That’s what Elisabetta Recine, the president of the National Council of Food Security (Consa, in Portuguese), explains.
"We can't think about taking action against hunger and poverty if we don't cross-cut this with committed and appropriate actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. I mean, extreme weather events are a profound destabilizing factor. We have examples of this all the time. So we have to consider climate change when taking action," he said.
In addition to the resources, the organizations defend a shared leadership with civil society to put in place actions that end hunger.
"There's no point in having a Global Alliance to fight hunger and taxation on the super-rich advancing, if Brazil doesn’t invest in the structures consolidated by the states to fight hunger, to perhaps move at least part of these food systems to guarantee rights, and not unequal and combined accumulation," he said.
