World Food Day- October 16th 2016
Happy Sunday Foodies..
Today is World Food Day, it is a day celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. The day is celebrated widely by many other organisations concerned with food security, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The World Food Day theme for 2014 was Family Farming: “Feeding the world, caring for the earth” in 2015 it was "Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty"; in 2016 it is Climate Change: "Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too", which echoes the theme of 2008, and of 2002 and 1989 before that.- source-wiki.com
World Food Theme- The world’s poorest are being hit hardest by climate change. If we strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers, we can guarantee food security for the planet’s growing global population and also reduce emissions.
Why care about hunger?
Because the right to food is a basic human right. In a world of plenty, 805 million people, one in nine worldwide, live with chronic hunger.1 The costs of hunger and malnutrition fall heavily on the most vulnerable.
- 60% of the hungry in the world are women.2
- Almost 5 million children under the age of 5 die of malnutrition-related causes every year.3
- 4 in 10 children in poor countries are malnourished damaging their bodies and brains4
Every human being has a fundamental right to be free from hunger and the right to adequate food. The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child has the physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.5
Because we can end hunger in our lifetime. It’s possible. The world produces enough food to feed every person on the planet. In September 2000, world leaders signed a commitment to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015. MDG #1 is eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and includes three targets. Since then:
- Forty countries have already achieved the first target, to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015. 6
- In addition, over the past 20 years, the likelihood of a child dying before age five has been nearly cut in half, which means about 17,000 children are saved every day.7
- Extreme poverty rates have also been cut in half since 1990.8
The challenge is significant, but these results show us that when we focus our attention, we can make big strides.
Because the cost of neglect is too high. No one in the world should have to experience hunger. In addition to the cost of human suffering, the world as a whole loses when people do not have enough to eat. Hungry people have learning difficulties, are less productive at work, are sick more often and live shorter lives. The cost to the global economy because of malnutrition is the equivalent of US$3.5 trillion a year.9 Hunger leads to increased levels of global insecurity and environmental degradation. Ending hunger is not just a moral imperative, but also a good investment for society.
Because it can happen to anyone. Even in the U.S., one of the richest countries in the world, one in seven Americans - 14.3 percent - does not have enough to eat.10 Nutritious food can be expensive, making a balanced diet a luxury for many. Loss of a job, a family tragedy, poor health, or an accident can make anyone, anywhere, go hungry in a moment. Globally, extreme climate events, war, or even financial crisis can dramatically affect a person’s ability to feed themselves and their families. Without social safety nets, resiliency measures and good policy in place, these small and large events can set off a cycle of hunger and poverty. source-worldfooddayusa.org
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