While the world has seen some progress on combatting the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, the challenge of providing the fundamental right to adequate food to all people must remain a priority, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 22 September 2016, urging Member States to continue to work together to tackle the problem.

“It is unacceptable in a world of plenty that nearly 800 million people still suffer from hunger,” the UN chief said at a high-level event on “Pathways to Zero Hunger” at UN Headquarters this afternoon.

“This represents a collective moral and political failure,” he added.

The event, co-organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), seeks to galvanize momentum for the Zero Hunger Challenge launched by the Secretary-General in 2012.

The Zero Hunger Challenge reflects five elements from within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which, taken together, can end hunger, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems.

At the event, the Secretary-General recalled that when he invited world leaders and development partners, through the Challenge, to share his vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition within a generation, he challenged them to build a world where all people enjoy the fundamental right to adequate food, and a world where food systems are inclusive, resilient and sustainable.

“This vision now lies at the heart the Sustainable Development Goals,” Mr. Ban emphasized. “With the 2030 Agenda we have the opportunity to silence once and for all the deafening cry of hunger and malnutrition that has echoed down through history.”

Noting that the pledge of the SDGs is to “leave no one behind,” the Secretary-General said that the common goal is to transform agriculture and food systems to drive rural prosperity and end poverty; to put agriculture at the heart of the solution to climate change; and to build peaceful societies through food security.

“By tackling the root causes of hunger and malnutrition we can support all the SDGs,” he said.

The UN chief highlighted that he has seen “real progress” in the past four years, citing that the global population of undernourished people has fallen by nearly 70 million since 2012.

In addition, he said that tackling the problem of food waste has become a “global cause,” while sustainable agriculture and food systems are at the heart of the Paris Agreement on climate change and Member States have now committed to ‘Zero Hunger’ as part of the 2030 Agenda.

“The Zero Hunger Challenge will continue to offer a space for diverse partners to come together behind a common objective,” Mr. Ban said. “As I end my term in office, I am asking FAO, WFP and IFAD to take my challenge forward.”

“I am confident that they will not rest until zero hunger is a reality. Together, we can meet the challenge of securing a future of health, prosperity, dignity and opportunity for all on a healthy planet,” he concluded.

The event was held in partnership with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, and the UN Global Compact.

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United Nations agencies in Rome vow to take forward Zero Hunger Challenge

FAO, IFAD and WFP to pursue initiative first launched by Ban Ki-moon

The heads of the Rome-based food and agriculture agencies on 22 September 2016 thanked United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his personal commitment and leadership in challenging the world to reach Zero Hunger. They promised to maintain momentum to reach the ambitious target by 2030.

The Zero Hunger Challenge was launched in 2012 by Secretary-General Ban who handed the Zero Hunger initiative on to the three agencies today at an event in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Many have responded to the Zero Hunger Challenge,” the Secretary-General said. “As I end my term in office, I am asking FAO, WFP and IFAD to take my Challenge forward. I am confident they will not rest until Zero Hunger is a reality.”

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, José Graziano da Silva, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Kanayo F. Nwanze, and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin, committed their organizations to take 0ver the Zero Hunger Challenge and pursue its goals

Speaking ahead of the “Pathways to Zero Hunger” event, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said: “There was a time when food security, nutrition, rural livelihoods, and sustainable agriculture were viewed as separate tasks, as the responsibility of different actors, and with different purposes.

“The success of the Zero Hunger pioneered in Brazil and adopted and adapted in countries throughout the world show that these issues should be tackled together, in an all out effort involving governments, international institutions, family farmers, civil society and the private sector,” said Graziano da Silva. 

“The Secretary-General has always urged us to work as partners and build a truly global movement towards Zero Hunger. His leadership is an inspiration and we in Rome must now play an even greater role to generate momentum and strengthen partnerships to realize his vision of a world free from hunger,” said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin.

In Rome, ahead of the New York event, IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze said, “With almost 800 million people going to bed hungry every night, it is vital that we build on the momentum generated by the Zero Hunger Challenge and the Secretary-General. Together we can deliver zero hunger, but only if we focus on rural areas of developing countries where most of the world’s poorest and hungriest people live.”

The Zero Hunger Challenge calls on leaders, businesses and civil society to step up efforts to end hunger in our lifetimes. It is based around five objectives: access to enough food and a healthy diet for all people, all year round; an end to malnutrition in all its forms; sustainable food systems form production to consumption;  an end to rural poverty – doubling smallholder productivity and incomes; adapting food systems to eliminate loss and waste.