The planet is expected to reach the astonishing number of 10 billion of inhabitants in the next century, and the question of how to achieve food security becomes relevant. The current food system is indeed not up to the task: today it no longer manages to ensure that the global population is fed and contributes to environmental degradation. Radical reform is long overdue.
Around 735 million people in the world suffered from hunger in 2022. Some 828 million suffered from malnutrition and almost 148 million children under five years of age were affected by rickets. Lack of access to fresh, nutritious food has also contributed to rising levels of obesity in many communities, as people have been forced to turn to unhealthy foods. Obesity poses the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart failure, stroke, cancer and hypertension.
Poor diet in all its forms (underweight, overweight, and micronutrient deficiency) exacerbates a person's vulnerability to infections, fueling a harmful cycle of adverse health outcomes. Meanwhile, the constant struggle to ensure adequate nutrition—and even to avoid famine—has consequences for one's own mental health, leading to anxiety, stress, and depression, among other things. As underlines According to a recent United Nations report, the right to food and the right to health are intrinsically linked.
The food system is also causing severe environmental damage. It is responsible for approximately a quarter part of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major cause of climate change. In addition, almost half of the world's habitable land is dedicated to agriculture. Areas once occupied by lush forests and other wilderness – including significant swathes of the Amazon forest, which is critical for planetary health – have been cleared to make way for agriculture, with devastating consequences for the planet. biodiversity.
The food system is responsible for approximately a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions
The problem is exacerbated by the widespread use of pesticides, which are associated – even with relatively low exposure – with multiple adverse health and environmental consequences for agricultural workers and for local communities and ecosystems. The pollution of La Pasión River in Guatemala with malathion, a pesticide used in palm oil plantations, led to the death of thousands of fish, depriving some 12,000 people of their main source of food and the basis of their survival.
The poor and marginalized disproportionately suffer the consequences of food system failures, especially in the Global South. Malnutrition is particularly prevalent in low income contexts or between individuals living in poverty. In high-income countries, such as Australia, the risk of obesity among indigenous populations is 1.5 times higher than among non-indigenous populations in comparable areas.
It doesn't help that 60% of the global proprietary seed market is controlled by four agrochemical companies based in high-income countries. The seeds supplied by these companies – which farmers in low-income countries depend on – are often for crops that are not nutritionally diverse or do not meet the nutritional needs of local communities.
The current system is clearly not fit for purpose. And efforts to improve it are essentially inadequate, since they do not take into account the deep associations between food, health and the environment. Instead of addressing each issue separately, it would be better to implement a strategy linked to human rights. Recognizing that the rights to food, health and a clean environment are indivisible and interdependent would favor all three at the same time. As it states Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, all people deserve access not only to health facilities, but also to the underlying determinants of health, such as nutritious food and a sustainable environment.
The first step is a comprehensive UN food systems treaty that takes into account all relevant rights and actors, and mitigates health and environmental harms along the entire food value chain. Such a treaty must reflect the needs and priorities of low-income countries and vulnerable groups, such as people living in poverty, displaced people, and women and children. It must incorporate local knowledge about the entire food system, from production, processing and packaging to promotion, distribution, sale and consumption. By involving local communities, the policy framework NOURISHINGdeveloped by the World Cancer Research Fund, could offer valuable lessons.
As rising food prices have pushed hunger to the top of the global agenda, the world has a unique opportunity to adopt a human rights-based approach to food and lay the foundations for a future. healthier, more equitable and more sustainable.
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