The World Food Prize Foundation laureates from across the globe write to Biden-Harris Administration
18 March 2021, USA: Even pre-COVID-19, hunger was on the rise, climate emissions in part driven by the food system were not on track to meet the Paris Agreement targets, and the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization reported in 2020 that an estimated 3 billion people could notafford a healthy diet in 2017. While the world reduced absolute poverty from 2 billion people in 1990 to 800 million people before the pandemic, the UN Development Programme approximates “COVID-19 could push the number of people living in extreme poverty to over 1 billion by 2030.”
In a world rattled by COVID-19, now is the time for audacious ambition as we envision what the world could look like in 2030, the year the Sustainable Development Goals should be met. Let us imagine a world in which everyone is well-nourished and no one goes to bed hungry. Howdo we get there?
“The opportunity for renewed U.S. leadership to transform food systems has never been greater. The appetite of partners around the world to work with the U.S. in both the public and private sectors is strong. We urge the Biden-Harris Administration to seize this moment and invest in development and cooperation to achieve zero hunger by 2030. American leadership on getting food systems right will inspire and emboldenothers to join forces to end hunger, counter climate change, generate jobs, and promote responsible stewardship of the environment”, said the letter addressed to Mr. Biden.
Actions needed by U.S will go a long way to transform food system.
Our four point agenda will help the U.S. and the rest of the world achieve the four-way win so desperately needed on climate, health, jobs and hunger. It includes; re-establish American global leadership, play a leadership role in the upcoming UN Food System Summit and other global initiatives, refresh U.S evidence based policy and investment to achieve the goal of ending Hunger, and expand the highly successful USAID Feed the Future initiative and Innovation Labs to reach more countries.
As the world staggers out of COVID and into the light of 2021, we seek to illuminate our collective path towards 2030. We urge the Biden-Harris Administration to focus on the promise to Build Back Better in transforming our food systems.
U.S. leadership in ending global hunger is imperative and must be backed by bold actions and your personal commitment for the U.S. to engage on major global initiatives. Nothing is more important than ending global hunger and malnutrition. In the words of U.S. Vice PresidentHarris: be “bold, fearless and ambitious.”
Also Read: Biden-Harris Administration’s Actions to Reduce Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis
