“Ixe! If it wasn't for solar energy, we would have closed down, you can be sure. We had to stop due to the pandemic on 15 March 2020, but the energy costs were fixed,” said Erika Cazuza, administrative and financial manager of the Brazilian
Cooperative of Rural Producers of Monteiro (Capribom).
At Gabimori primary school, located at Nyamagaro ward in Tanzania’s northern Rorya district, a 15-year-old Florence Sadiki kneels among polyethylene bags, carefully examining the seedlings she and her classmates have nurtured from tiny sprouts “We’ve planted many trees to make our school look better and to help fight climate change,” she says.
The production of solar energy by means of panels installed on small farmers' properties or on the roofs of community organisations is starting to directly benefit more and more farmers in Chile.
As countries are meeting in Cali, Colombia, for the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 16), the fate of biodiversity hangs in the balance, and with it, the sustainability of our food systems.
As the UN’s COP16 biodiversity conference continues, the temptation is to focus on the wild flora and fauna under threat.
But there is another, less obvious yet just as critical biodiversity crisis unfolding around the world that also deserves attention.
It was two weeks before October 7—when Hamas attacked Israel—that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood behind the rostrum in the United Nations General Assembly hall clutching a crude map of what he called the "new Middle East," a visual that erased the land of Palestine.
Critical levels of nationwide hunger in Sudan has only increased to critical levels since the start of the Sudanese civil war in April 2023. Escalated hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have led to limited mobility and repeated blockages of humanitarian aid. This, coupled with the volatile floods and droughts, have decimated crop fields which has only exacerbated famine levels greatly. All of these factors have left nearly 25 million people in Sudan in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.
“How we prepare and eat food should not be at the expense of our biodiversity,” says 3-Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco, who is on a mission to change our relationship with food and what we choose to eat.
Colagreco, the owner of Mirazur, an award-winning restaurant in Menton, France, is a tribute to gastronomy. Among other world rankings, Mirazur's fine food and service have earned it first place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants. In the 2020 edition of the "100 Chefs" world ranking, Colagreco's peers named him the Best Chef in the World and Chef of the Year in 2019.
Children in northern Syria are suffering from hunger, illness, and malnutrition as a result of poverty, poor living conditions for most families, and the collapse of purchasing power amid the soaring prices of all essential food commodities. Displacement and a lack of job opportunities make this worse.
On October 19, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously voted to expand an arms embargo in an effort to combat the high levels of gang violence that plagues Haiti. Armed groups have taken control of the majority of Port-Au-Prince, the nation’s capital, leading to numerous clashes with the local police. Humanitarian organizations hope that this embargo will prevent Haitian gangs from accessing illicit weapons and munitions unchecked.
Christian Tiambo has always wished to uplift local farmers’ communities through cutting-edge science.
As climate change wreaked havoc on local agriculture, Tiambo, a livestock scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (
CTLGH) and at the International Livestock Research Institute (
ILRI), focused on conserving and developing livestock that could withstand environmental stress.
Hurricanes
Helene and
Milton resulted in
record-setting rain, flooding, and flash flooding events across several states, including Florida and North Carolina, leaving devastating impacts on people, communities, and infrastructure that will require many years of rebuilding and recovery.
Climate change has thrown our food systems into chaos. Extreme weather events and dramatic climate variations are hammering food production and supply chains across the world. As global leaders gear up for COP29, there’s plenty of buzz about climate action. But can we really expect these slow-moving, bureaucratic negotiations to deliver tangible and swift results to decarbonize and insulate our agri-food systems? Most likely not. But do not despair. While the COP29 talks unfold, crucial climate solutions for transforming food systems are already taking root on the ground.
The impact of climate change continues to devastate economies worldwide, creating a pressing need for all countries to significantly increase international climate finance. To drive critical action towards reduced climate risks and sustainable economic growth calls for expanded access to affordable, predictable finance at scale.
Food waste has been a pressing concern for environmentalists and humanitarians for decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that approximately one third of all global food products end up in landfills, equating to roughly 1.3 billion metric tons. Conversely, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), about 3 billion people lack access to nutritious or sufficient amounts of food that will sustain a healthy diet. Additionally, food waste has been a leading factor in environmental degradation since the start of the industrial revolution, with food in landfills releasing millions of metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere yearly.
Kenyan farmers have faced a turbulent year, caught between legislative changes and a devastating scandal. While the country's Mung Bean Bill, aiming to regulate the lucrative mung bean industry, has moved to mediation, farmers are battling the fallout from the widespread distribution of counterfeit fertilizers that have jeopardized their crop yields and livelihoods.
High levels of hunger will continue for another 136 years in many developing countries, according to a new report assessing global hunger.
The world's farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population.
Yet around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world.
A landmark report released last July by five UN agencies— the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN children’s agency UNICEF—outlined the setbacks in fighting global hunger and warned that the world has fallen behind by more than 15 years in its relentless battle against food scarcities, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009.
While the impact of COVID-19 and the
war in Ukraine on food system disruptions was widely covered, underlying food system vulnerabilities across Asia and the Pacific had been steadily growing long before these crises unfolded.
World Food Day seems like it should be a time to celebrate. A day to eat delicious meals and enjoy the rich traditions and cultures of food around the globe.