Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Friday, September 24 2021 - 15:12
AsiaNet
Leaders commit to tackling global hunger, climate change, biodiversity loss and inequities at historic UN Food Systems Summit
NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/--

    The first ever UN Food Systems Summit convened world leaders in an effort 
to spur national and regional action to deliver the UN's 17 Sustainable 
Development Goals (SDGs) through transforming food systems. It featured 
commitments from more than 85 heads of state around the world. 

   Following from the latest IPCC report 
[https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/], which raised a 'code red' for 
human-driven global heating, the United States administration pledged $10 
billion to address climate change and food insecurity. 

   Half of these funds will be invested domestically in 'recognition that all 
countries, even those that produce a surplus of food, must take steps to 
improve nutrition and adapt their food systems to a changing climate.'

   The COVID-19 pandemic increased poverty levels by up to 124 million people 
and undernourishment by around 9.9 per cent.

   Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who announced New Zealand would join the 
Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems Coalition, said: "We are committed to ensuring 
Indigenous Peoples can help lead the way forward."

   Other countries pledged support for indigenous rights, including Honduras, 
Samoa, Peru and the Philippines.

   "We, as the global community, are not delivering on our promises to 
eradicate hunger," said President Sauli Niinistö of Finland. 

   Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, highlighted the need to focus 
on 'quality food for everyone.' Likewise, Burkina Faso committed to including 
the right to food in their constitution. 

   Cambodia pledged to work towards the promotion of gender equality and the 
creation of job opportunities for youth and women.

   Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji said: 
"Just as our environment, peoples, and food systems are profoundly interwoven 
and mutually sustaining, so must our response be, for the sake of our and 
future generations."

   The United Arab Emirates announced the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) 
for Climate launched with the United States. 

   "We must use the power of ingenuity to improve on food systems so they 
provide safe, nutritious, affordable, and accessible food for all, while 
conserving natural resources, and combating the climate crisis," said the U.S. 
Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. 

    All submissions are being compiled in an official compendium, while all 
commitments are lodged in an online commitments registry.

   New five-year funding of US$922 million focussed on nutrition was also 
announced by Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

   Media contact:  
   Katie Taft 
   fsscommunications@un.org

   Source: UN Food Systems Summit
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