IN FOCUS:
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty – on US $1.90 a day – has dropped massively, from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. But the pace of poverty reduction is slowing down and current projections suggest that 6% of the world’s population will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030, missing the target of the first Sustainable Development Goal.
And despite earlier extended progress on Goal 2 – Zero Hunger – the number of people suffering from hunger has been on the rise for the third consecutive year. An estimated 821 million people were undernourished in 2017, up from 784 million in 2015. The proportion of stunted children has been declining since 2000, but 22% of children under 5 years of age were still chronically undernourished in 2018.
Given those challenges, increased political will and targeted actions are needed to help the most vulnerable, strengthen basic resources and services, and support communities affected by conflict and climate-related disasters. Ending poverty and hunger also involves promoting sustainable agricultural, supporting small-scale farmers and equal access to land, technology and markets.
Goal 1: Why It Matters
Goal 1: Infographic
Goal 2: Why It Matters
Goal 2: Infographic
Achieving Zero Hunger is not only about addressing hunger, but also nourishing people, while nurturing the planet. This World Food Day, the Food and Agriculture Organization calls for action across sectors to make healthy and sustainable diets affordable and accessible to everyone. At the same time, it calls on everyone to start thinking about what we eat.
#StopTheWaste Campaign
We produce enough food to feed everyone, yet one in nine people go to bed hungry every night. At the same time, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. This October, the World Food Programme will launch #StopTheWaste, a global movement to help fight food waste.
Imagine a future in which every person on earth could have nourishing food every day – a future where leaving home could be a choice and where all farmers could sow seeds for a better, sustainable future. What if everyone had the power to secure that future today? There is only one future, and we have the power to choose what it looks like, no matter who we are, or where we are. Our actions are our future.
In this article, UN News explores the steps being taken towards a Zero Hunger world.
World hunger rates are increasing alongside an uptick in climate change-correlated events such as droughts, cyclones, and hurricanes. Food systems are taking a hit. Executive Director of the World Food Programme David Beasley called on the world to empower the world’s most vulnerable populations, including the hungry and impoverished, when fighting against climate change. Beasley poignantly reminded participants that “poor people, who have the smallest carbon footprint, are paying the harshest price.”
As the world faces an increasingly critical need to act against climate change, the important role that rural women and girls play in building resilience is unquestionable. Indeed, it will take not only leaders, but whole populations to make the necessary changes for a carbon-neutral world.
UN Women marks the International Day focusing on the role of rural women and girls in building climate resilience, leveraging on the momentum garnered by the UN Climate Action Summit, which kicked off the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. The day serves as a reminder that the world’s sustainable future is not possible without rural women and girls.
Childhood is a special time in everybody’s life. It is a time when children should be encouraged to learn and nurturing childhood experience is an essential element in the development of healthy and productive future generations. Yet, today the reality for millions of children are being robbed of a meaningful childhood.
As the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of a Child, the International Day focuses on the need to act together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty.
SDG Blogs
How new data challenges perceptions of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’
By Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UN Development Programme
First end hunger to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
Today’s world remains deeply unfair. The life and prospects faced by a newborn in a poor country or in a poor household are radically different from those of wealthier children. In all societies, long-standing forms of inequality persist while gaps are opening in new aspects of life. The 2019 Human Development Report, to be released in December, will focus on understanding the dimensions of inequality most important to people’s well-being, and what is behind them.
As the report heads towards its 30th anniversary in 2020, the UN Development Programme and its partners are embarking on a major effort to re-articulate human development for today’s world. The very first report in 1990 marked a new era in which progress was not defined by economic growth alone, but by giving people opportunities and freedoms to live the lives they would value. For the full press release on the upcoming report, click here.