RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva unveiled the pre-launch of a global alliance against hunger and poverty in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. He described it as one of Brazil’s top priorities for its current presidency of the G20.
“Hunger is not just the result of external factors; it is, above all, the result of political choices. Today the world produces more than enough food to eradicate it. What is missing is creating the conditions for access to food,” said Lula according to Agência Brasil.
Presidents of multilateral banks, delegations from abroad, Brazilian ministers, and members of UN agencies attended the event in Rio de Janeiro. The alliance’s formal establishment is due to happen later this year when world leaders gather for the summit of the leading 20 developing nations in the city from 18th to 19th November.
Discussing the topic, Lula highlighted that spending on armaments rose by 7% last year, reaching $2.4 trillion. “Reversing this logic is a moral imperative of socia
l justice, but also essential for sustainable development,” added the Brazilian President.
According to a statement from Brazil’s G20 press office, the alliance aims to implement a mechanism to mobilise funds and knowledge to support expanding policies and programmes to combat inequality and poverty. It will be managed from a secretariat located at the Food and Agriculture Organisation headquarters in Rome and Brasilia until 2030, with half of its costs covered by Brazil, Lula said in his speech.
“I want to express my gratitude to the countries that have already been willing to contribute to this endeavour,” declared the Brazilian President. He explained that the initiative will not create new funds but that the global and regional resources that already exist and are dispersed will be redirected to each country’s state policies.
World Bank President Ajay Banga expressed his backing for the initiative during a bilateral conversation with Lula, according to a statement from Brazil’s presidency. The organisa
tion announced that it will be the lead knowledge partner for the G20 Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.
“Put simply: hunger and poverty are intertwined. We need to take them on and work hard to rid our world of both,” said Banga.
Marcelo CSndido da Silva, a history professor at the University of Sao Paulo and vice-coordinator of an international research project against hunger, stated that food security issues and poverty are present across Brazil, from the Amazon to large urban centres. That scenario, as explained by da Silva, means that the country can bring expertise to the global discussion.
The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, published Wednesday by five United Nations specialised agencies, disclosed that around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023. This number is equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa. The report was released in Rio, where QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nati
ons (FAO), commended the President of Brazil for bringing food security to the centre of the G20 agenda.
The report warns that the world is falling significantly short of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030. It stated that the world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009.
In a statement accompanying the report’s launch, the UN World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said that eradicating hunger is feasible. “A future free from hunger is possible if we can rally the resources and the political will needed to invest in proven long-term solutions. I call on G20 leaders to follow Brazil’s example and prioritise ambitious global action on hunger and poverty,” he said.
The 2024 report’s theme, “Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition”, emphasised that achieving SDG 2 Zero Hunger requires a multi-faceted approach, including transforming and strengthening agrifood systems, addressing i
nequalities, and ensuring affordable and accessible healthy diets for all, as explained by FAO.
It called for increased and more cost-effective financing, with a clear and standardised definition of financing for food security and nutrition.
Source: Emirates News Agency