Hunger has steadily been on the rise prior to the COVID-19. But the pandemic has supercharged these trends, with an additional 130 million projected to be suffering from hunger in 2020 alone, even before the devastating situation we are currently seeing in India and Brazil. But as shown in the ground-breaking Ceres2030 studies - backed up by another study by German organisations, the PARI Report - this situation can be turned around. With USD33 billion in additional annual spending, we can reduce the number of hungry people from 690 million today to 170 million by 2030. The new evidence shows that a specific set of investments is needed to end hunger in ways that also ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all, support sustainable consumption shifts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, generate decent and dignified livelihoods, and build food system resilience to future shocks.
Most of the additional USD33 billion will come from governments - but they are already under pressure from the pandemic and the associated economic downturn. Large companies can and should step in to play a catalytic role in this effort.
The Zero Hunger, Nourish the Future Pledge is an opportunity for companies, investment funds, and philanthropies to align USD 5 billion of their resources with new evidence and complement their pledges with new commitments being made by global institutions and governments to end hunger and nourish the future by 2030. The purpose of this parallel session is to get buy-in from CEOs and ministers on the pathway to an ambitious partnership that leverages their combined resources and that leads to a high-level pledging moment by companies, investment funds, and philanthropies at the UN Food Systems Summit.
This event is organised jointly by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Grow Africa, Grow Asia, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and Cornell University