Such realities force the issue of how food is produced, marketed and consumed worldwide to the forefront, the UN stressed.

From 2015 to date, hunger rating declined marginally to 9.2% of the world’s population, against a backdrop of relative progress thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic, rising climate shocks and conflicts that drove up the costs of food, fuel and fertilizer.

Hunger impacted some 735 million people in 2022 and the figure remains well above the pre-pandemic level, according to the UN text also recalling the existence of at least 148 million children with stunted growth due to inadequate nutrition.

Nor is enough being done to help developing economies adapt their food production to the impacts of climate change.

Smallholder farmers in developing countries produce one-third of the world’s food, but receive only 1.7% of climate finance.

According to the United Nations, there is too much food consumption and too little protection of natural resources globally: three quarters of the Earth’s land ecosystem and around 66% of the planet’s marine environment showed significant alterations due to human actions in 2023.

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