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Tuesday, May 5, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Food Sustainability
Famine in South Sudan Projected to Worsen Without Humanitarian Intervention
In 2026, the humanitarian situation in South Sudan has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with widespread food shortages, ongoing disruptions to food production systems, and rising rates of malnutrition affecting over half of the population. Compounded by the vast scale of needs and an overwhelming lack of access to basic services, humanitarian experts warn that nationwide levels of hunger are projected to worsen to catastrophic levels if urgent intervention is not secured.
A Global Movement for Nutrition Is Needed Now More than Ever
In my more than 30 years with the United Nations, I’ve seen enormous change, collaboration and progress towards improving human development. But I’ve also seen how history has a way of repeating itself to entrench some of the most intractable global challenges.
Farmers Can Now Measure and Benefit From Fruit Tree Carbon Trade
Farmers can now know and benefit from their contribution to climate change thanks to a formula that can be used to calculate the amount of carbon stored in fruit trees.
Beyond Buzzwords: COP30’s Opportunity to Deliver on Sustainable Food Systems
The language of agricultural sustainability changes like the seasons—from “climate-smart” to “regenerative,” “agroecological,” and “nature-positive.” Each term reflects good intentions, but the growing list risks duplication, confusion and delays.
Why Food and Agriculture Should Be at the Centre of COP30 Agenda
As the COP30 entered its second week in Brazil, the urgency to tackle climate change has never been greater, as is the appetite to feed a growing world population.
Drought-hit Tanzania’s Villages Confront Harshest Reality of Climate Change
The dust was already swirling when Asherly William Hogo lifted himself from a makeshift bed before dawn. The 62-year-old pastoralist, lean from a lifetime of walking these plains, slipped into his sandals and stepped outside. Stars glittered over Dodoma, but the air was warmer than it used to be, Hogo swears. He whistled for his cows. Years ago, this hour meant an arduous trek to distant waterholes.
Global Food Demand in Middle-Income Nations is Rising, UN Report Says
As incomes rise in middle-income countries, so does the demand for animal-sourced calories, resulting in large increases to global food production, and raising the importance for sustainable agriculture amidst growing concerns of climate change.
African Fish Workers Excluded From International Trade Deals: Report
A new report has raised concerns about the exclusion of African fish workers from trade protocols between their governments and developed countries, resulting in impoverished communities relying on fishing.
Science Is Useless if No One Understands It
Despite delivering life-saving medicines, more nutritious crops, and transformative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), science remains widely misunderstood, polarizing, and underappreciated. Much of this, experts say, comes down to one persistent issue: poor communication.
Afghanistan’s Children in Dire Need of an ‘Acceleration in Nutrition Action’
Afghanistan is burdened with one of the highest rates of child wasting globally, with 3.5 million children under five years suffering from a severe form of malnutrition, leaving them dangerously underweight and unable to grow or thrive.
Tanzania Champions Aquatic Foods at UN Ocean Conference in Nice
With less than six harvest seasons left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the urgency to find transformative solutions to end hunger, protect the oceans, and build climate resilience dominated the ninth panel session at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France.
Weaponizing Food Worsens Starvation
Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation.
UNOC3: A Cry for Global Action to Save Small-Scale Fisheries
Just before dawn, the worn wooden dhows begin gliding toward the shore at Magogoni fish market in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam. Their tattered sails flutter against the orange sky. Exhausted fishers step out onto the muddy sand, hauling frayed nets and plastic crates, their sun-creased faces tight with fatigue.
How Computational Biology Is Zoning in on the Future of Agriculture
When pioneering agronomist and father of the “Green Revolution” Norman Borlaug set out to breed a disease-resistant, high-yielding variety of wheat, he spent years laboriously planting and pollinating different specimens by hand. He manually catalogued every outcome until he landed on the variety that would transform farming and avert famine. The result was even greater than expected: it is estimated that he saved more than a billion people worldwide from starvation.
How Science Solutions Are Saving Africa’s Livestock and Livelihoods
Livestock are a lifeline for millions of farmers in Africa as a source of food and wealth. But devastating diseases are threatening the health and productivity of their animals. Now scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have unleashed a toolbox of science solutions by outsmarting the parasites and pathogens that cost millions of dollars in livestock losses across Africa. The toolbox includes everything from vaccines that protect livestock from ‘cattle malaria’ to genetics to breed animals tolerant to East Coast fever.
Hooves Vs. Habitats: Striking a Sustainable Balance Between Livestock and the Environment Is Crucial to Africa’s Future
In my country, Senegal, almost 70 percent of our land is used to graze livestock. Here and across Africa, pastoralists and livestock keepers sustain herding systems which are closely bound up with our landscapes and crucial to nationwide food security, economic growth, and ecological balance.
Reflections on CGIAR’s Week-Long Discussions on Food System Science
More than 13,600 participants from around the world registered for the inaugural CGIAR Science Week at the UN Complex, Nairobi, April 7-12, 2025. Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, the organization’s Executive Managing Director, said, “This is a testament that people are thirsty for science and for good news.”
How to Put the ‘Sexy’ Back into Agriculture – Thoughts From CGIAR Science Week
This week presented a beacon of hope for young people so that the “girl from the South and the boy, of course” could stay in the developing world, Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, said during a press conference on the final day of the CGIAR Science Week.
CGIAR Gender Impact Platform Needs a ‘Bold Approach’ in Agriculture Research
Women farmers face structural issues that prevent them from realizing their full potential, from societal perceptions that dictate their limitations to poor land. However, CGIAR's Gender Impact Platform Director, Nicoline de Haan, argues that leaning into a "victim" narrative does not serve them, especially when women are demonstrably more involved in agriculture.
Partnerships Expected to Enhance Agricultural Development
Two crucial partnerships were signed at the CGIAR Science Week in Nairobi today (April 9, 2025), aimed at delivering research for development at scale across Africa.
Farmers Need Science Solutions in Their Hands Sooner Than Later
Climate change is outpacing science and farmers are paying the price. Agricultural research innovations need to reach farmers before it is too late.Next Page »
In 2017, 124 million people in 51 countries faced acute food insecurity — 11 million more than in 2016, and the number of people living on the edge of starvation and hunger remains at 815 million worldwide. The 2017 increase is largely attributable to new or intensified conflicts and insecurity and prolonged drought conditions have also triggered poor harvests in countries already facing high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. The United Nations seems determined to work towards its targeted goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. But how feasible is this?
