Food Climate Change and Hunger Safeguarding the Future

[Music]

[Applause]

we all

love and enjoy good meals don’t we and

with my favorite

chord rice today severing this south

indian

staple meal well talking about

indian meals in the last 40 50 years

i’ve seen india one of the most populous

countries in the world transition to

become self-sufficient

in food for production with 291 million

tons of cereals with some 75 million

tons

in food stock i witnessed the gin

revolution first time as a student of

agriculture science in punjab

india in the 70s today

with continued advancement of science

and technology fueling green revolution

there is enough food for everyone even

then

there are 609 million people across the

world

who go hungry sadly a significant

percentage of them

live in india but then india has

introduced

world’s largest social security program

like the public distribution

system integrated child development

services

and the midday meal schemes that

together reach over

a billion people in country in one way

or another in my 35

years with the united nations world food

program across africa

the middle east and asia in development

work

i’ve realized that access to wholesome

meals

is certainly not a given especially

a nutritious meal including in india

and when we say healthy wholesome meals

what do we mean a meal that has balance

vitamins minerals micronutrients

many sections of our societies may not

have access to and fully aware of the

details

of eating healthy children expecting

nourishing mothers a specific

nutrition need critical for their health

and growth

differential access to food based on

gender

differences is also a persistent

challenge therefore

mere availability of food is not enough

to address

hunger simply put stable food items like

rice or wheat

which are rich source of starch are not

enough to provide us

especially expecting mothers and

children

the micronutrients to live a healthy

life

in my plate here just has rice

with some salt this is not enough

nutrition especially if this is the only

type of meal

i’m eating day in and day out especially

if i’m a woman

or a child even worse

and this is what is happening to

millions

every day and you know what’s

fascinating

there is whole ecosystem farmers at work

supply chain land management and weather

pattern

financing and access that operates

behind

each meal that we eat and in this food

system

our ecosystem climate change has a huge

role to play

how one may ask extreme and

unpredictable weather patterns

dry seasons droughts floods

and climate phenomenas storms cyclones

and hurricanes

caused by climate changes are disrupting

agriculture

exposing it crop failure or

substantially lower ills

these account for up to 90 percent of

the climate related

disasters this can quickly

spiral into full-blown food

and nutrition crisis with disruption of

land-based

livelihood and reduction in local

produce

the food basket and dietary diversity

shrinks

compounding hunger and malnutrition as

food items

become unaffordable hunger

and pressure on food system contributes

to social distress and conflicts

therefore it is not a surprise that

climate change

and extreme weather events are among the

key drivers behind

global hunger distress migration

or social conflict in 2008 i was in

myanmar where i witnessed

one of the worst cyclone killing over

130 000 people

displacing three million and huge

destruction

to infrastructure and livelihoods

we need to strengthen such multilateral

commitment

across the globe the parish agreement of

2015

is a great example in this space if we

don’t

the consequence could be much worse

than with the kovite 19.

history has taught us that communities

around the world have lived through

trying

climate condition before and have

survived by

helping each other in villages in india

or africa

have had the practice of community food

or grain

pulling for supporting a person or a

family

in time of great need enough to help

them to get back on their feet

as a collective they have emerged and

survived many droughts

feminine invasion through centuries in

africa it’s called

ubuntu navigating the scale

and complex interlinkage of processes

like global and systematic hunger

food system and climate change can often

numb into inaction which is contrary to

what is

needed individual and collective actions

i want to use this opportunity to share

four accent points

with you the first action i want to

call upon is very simple yet powerful

please embrace the idea of sharing a

meal

as it is not just about giving food to

some

it is much more and is caring

the humanity is currently going a huge

challenge

wp estimates that due to the covet

pandemic

the number of acute food insecure people

across the world

will double to 270 million in 2020-21

second we must understand the

interlinkage of food and climate system

and how they unite us

in terms of its shared destiny and

impact

this will save our behavior and attitude

toward the food choices we make

especially the food that is wasted and

how

carbon imprint approach a day-to-day

level

currently one-third of the entire food

we as human produce is either lost or

wasted

third point we need to ensure that the

public and private institution provide

more effective services in preparing for

responding to and recovering from

climate stocks

and slow onset changes governments

must protect the population with food

meal or cash to prevent a rise in hunger

fourth point all planning policy and

program in agriculture

food security and livelihood must have

an

effort to build resilient activities and

adopt a new situation

and farming with less water and

adaptable crop varieties

also be mindful of how

where and when we source food items from

the further a food item has traveled

from to get to our plate the more carbon

footprint it has

eat local eat seasonal and support the

local growers

small estates by us as individuals like

growing our nutri garden

can help us set a culture of growing and

sharing

within communities share a meal

support adapter child or family

help them get back on their feet let us

also

spread the ubuntu everywhere thank you

[Music]

namaste