Speakers at a ceremony in Rome to mark World Food Day on Tuesday called on nations to step up their efforts to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition and ensure enough quality food for all, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said.
"The struggle against hunger urgently demands generous financing, the abolition of trade barriers and, above all, greater resilience in the face of climate change, economic crises and warfare," Pope Francis said in a special message read out at the event.
Francis urged an approach to eliminating hunger that is more proactive and sustained over time, as well as greater funding for concrete initiatives to foster peace and the development of peoples, prevent the proliferation of weapons and the arms trade.
The pontiff also said it was "regrettable" that international solidarity in the fight against hunger appears to be "cooling", and decried the lack of fundamental political will and enthusiasm of responsible political leaders, whom he described "often absorbed purely by electoral concerns or focused on biased, transitory or limited perspectives".
World Food Day is marked in 150 countries as conflict, extreme weather events linked to climate change, economic slowdown and rapidly increasing overweight and obesity levels are reversing progress made in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, FAO said.
The theme of this year's World Food Day is 'Our actions are our future: a Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible'.
"We need to put in place food systems that provide healthy and nutritious foods that are accessible and affordable for everyone," said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva in his address.
Zero Hunger is not only about feeding but also about nourishing people, providing them with the nutrients they need for healthy, productive lives, Graziano da Silva stressed.
"We are witnessing the globalization of obesity," he said warning that there could soon be as many obese as malnourished people.
"If we don't find concrete ways to stop this, the number of obese people will soon be as high as the number of undernourished people in the world," he said, urging healthy food to be produced and consumed in a sustainable way.
Jose Graziano da Silva lauded Brazil, Peru and China for having reduced hunger significantly in a short period of time - evidence that Zero Hunger is possible if there is political will and financial support.
In a video address, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the deaths of half of the world's infants due to hunger "intolerable" and called on everyone "to do their part towards sustainable food systems".
FAO Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition, King Letsie III of Lesotho also spoke at the event.
"Rural diets are also gradually shifting away from traditional, healthy and organic food to those that are more common in urban areas. A whole of a society's effort is required to overcome this problem in a similar manner as was done to fight other public challenges such as HIV and malaria," he said.
Queen Letizia of Spain, FAO Special Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition and one of the keynote speakers, urged: "Let us ensure that the private sector commits more, that comprehensive education for health is part of the school curriculum. Let's us make sure that consumer step up their role, and really know what they are buying and eating."
President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Gilbert F. Houngbo said in his remarks: "For African agriculture to reach its potential, it needs investment. Not just in higher productivity and profitability, but in infrastructure, in research, and in policies that result in value chains that are inclusive of smallholders - and in particular women and youth. We need the political will and budgetary commitments, and more importantly we need to transform challenges into opportunities for rural women and youth."
"There's good news. We've made great progress in the world in the past 100 years," said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme.
"But today, we know we're going in the wrong direction. With all our wealth, all our expertise, all our technology - shame on us that any child should go hungry. We will all be held accountable. But I do believe that if we all work together, with the commitment of men and women around the world, we can achieve Zero Hunger."
Global hunger has risen for the third consecutive year, affecting one in nine or 821 million people, but other forms of malnutrition have also increased, FAO stated.
Last year, some 150 million children under the age of five (22 percent) were stunted, one in three women of reproductive age was anaemic, and about 2 billion people were overweight, including 38 million overweight children under the age of five, and 672 million obese adults.
Whilst hunger is mostly restricted to areas ravaged by conflicts, droughts and extreme poverty, obesity is everywhere and is increasing all around the world. It also comes at a huge socio-economic cost, being a risk factor for diseases such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer,
The global economic impact of obesity is about 2 trillion euros per year (2.8 percent of global GDP), said FAO.
Obesity and anaemia are on the rise as the current global food systems have made processed and industrialised food - high in fat, sugar, salt and chemical additives - more available and accessible.
FAO said it and the World Health Organisation are jointly spearheading the implementation of the Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025, and supporting countries to address the multiple burdens of malnutrition/ poor diet.
Measures include adopting legislation to improve the labelling of products, and ban harmful ingredients; introducing nutrition in school curriculums; combatting food loss and waste; and promoting local fresh food from family farming, FAO said.
