Welcome to the United Nations
CANCELLED: UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The world is facing multiple urgent crises related to food, energy and finance, several driven by conflict, which compound the challenges people face due to the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change. It is estimated these combined crises will lead to an additional 75 million to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022, compared to pre-pandemic projections. Distressingly, in the last three months, almost 5 million more people are facing severe hunger emergencies bringing the total to 49 million, up from 22 27 million people in 2019. Estimates indicate that up to 323 million people are likely to be acutely hungry in 2022.
Efforts to respond are expensive and continue to come up short when addressing the root causes of extreme poverty, hunger, and inequality. And, as with any food crisis, the burden falls hardest on the poorest rural people living in the most vulnerable countries and communities. If the global community is going to break the continuous cycle and response, it must support individual countries to invest in resilience and remain focused on the SDGs. Any short-term policy response to a given crisis should not undermine efforts to support long-term food systems transformation and build resilience while contributing to achieving the SDGs. Moreover, current investments in adaptation for smallholders are woefully inadequate, creating the potential for new threats and vulnerabilities.
This event will explore investment strategies to build the resilience of rural communities and encourage more inclusive food systems in support of the SDGs.
