Date/time: 29 October 2013, 10:00 – 13:00

Location: Conference Room 2, Conference Building

Key Speakers: Delegates from India, Jordan, Australia, Russian Federation, USA, Malawi, Kuwait, Myanmar, Ireland, Ukraine, Jamaica, Namibia, Togo, Burkina Faso, Nicaragua, France, Mozambique, Argentina, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Viet Nam, Botswana, Bolivia, Netherlands, Montenegro, Holy See, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Fund for Agriculture Development

Summary by: Alexander Luong

During the Second Committee Meeting over the discussion of agriculture development, food security and nutrition, delegates generally focused on the issue of world hunger. Within the global community, world hunger remains as the single greatest challenge that we face today.

Although the number of people that suffer from chronic hunger has decreased from 868 million between 2010 – 2012 to 842 million in 2011 – 2013, one out of every eight people in the world do not get enough food to sustain an active lifestyle.

Delegates from Ireland, Australia, Botswana, Ukraine and Montenegro argued that there must be a multi-dimensional approach to solving the problem of global hunger. In other words, food insecurity, hunger, poverty, and malnutrition will not be vanquished unless action is taken across various sectors. Particularly, the delegates highlighted the promotion of economic growth, as strong economies lift people out of poverty and allow people to improve their living conditions.

The delegate from Australia mentioned a specific example to support this claim, stating that the Asia-Pacific has combated food insecurity with sound economic policies and strong national leadership. Although there are still 528 million people with food insecurity, extreme poverty amongst nations such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines has decreased from 52% to below 22% since 1990.

Organizations such as the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) furthered the argument by mentioning specific policies and programs that aid in moving forward on the issue of world hunger. In his statement, the delegate from IFAD mentioned the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, which helps to build global momentum in reducing children under nutrition.

Approximately 40 national governments have declared their commitment to prioritize nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive development within their countries. The delegates stressed the idea of collective action, as the effort to relinquish world hunger must be on a global level.

Edited By: Wayne Dean Doyle