The reverse in progress and the persistently high levels of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in recent years have taken the world off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets 2.1 and 2.2 – end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Progress to address many drivers has been slow, and the increasing occurrence and intensity of several of these drivers will keep us on a worsening trajectory unless the risks are firmly addressed.
Previous editions of this report have repeatedly highlighted the intensification of several major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, specifically conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns, combined with the well-established underlying factors that contribute to food insecurity and malnutrition, such as lack of access to and unaffordability of nutritious foods, unhealthy food environments, and high and persistent inequality.1–4 Not only are the major drivers increasing in frequency and intensity, they are occurring concurrently more often, and in combination with the underlying factors, resulting in increasing numbers of hungry and food-insecure people (see Chapter 3).5 In this report, these known and intensifying factors, and the complex combinations of them that are behind persistently high levels of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, are referred to as “major drivers”, unless specified otherwise in the text.
Drivers external to agrifood systems (e.g. conflict, climate extremes) and internal (e.g. low productivity and inadequate supply of nutritious foods, notably fruits and vegetables, and excessive offer of cheap, highly processed energy-dense foods, high in fats, sugars and/or salt) are driving up the cost of nutritious foods, increasing the unaffordability of healthy diets.5, 6 This cost increase is challenging food security and nutrition not only in rural areas, but also across the rural–urban continuum, as is shown in last year’s edition of this report.6 Depending on the major driver or combination of drivers affecting food security and nutrition in a country, addressing them will require a portfolio of policies across six transformative pathways, as outlined in detail in The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021.5
To attain the scale of actions needed, sufficient levels of and equal access to financing to address food security and nutrition challenges are essential. As highlighted in the 2022 edition of this report, repurposing current food and agricultural policy support is essential to be more cost effective and efficient and to align with the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition.7 Much of the food and agriculture support is not always aligned to this goal and sometimes inadvertently undermines food security and nutrition and related health outcomes. Repurposing current public budgets alone is not enough to reach SDG 2 Targets 2.1 and 2.2. Mobilizing, allocating and safeguarding finance to address the main determinants of food security and nutrition and the major drivers behind recent trends is critical.
The theme of this year’s report focuses on the financing to achieve SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2 – financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. After providing the latest estimates of food security and various nutrition indicators around the world in Chapter 2, the report tries to answer urgent questions related to the current state of financing to achieve food security and address all forms of malnutrition. Despite having a commonly agreed upon definition of food security and nutrition, there are stark differences in the estimates of its current levels of financing. In Chapter 3, the report explores the reasons for these discrepancies and proposes a new definition and methodology for measuring financing for food security and nutrition. This new definition and methodology address the main determinants and major drivers of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms.
Applying this new definition and methodology, Chapter 4 provides estimates of the current levels of financing for food security and nutrition and outlines the financing gap to achieve SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2. Closing this sizeable financing gap will require innovative, inclusive and scalable financing options targeting the main determinants and major drivers of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Chapter 5 takes a deep dive into the options for innovative and synergetic scalable financing based on a typology of countries defined by their food security and nutrition situation and ability to obtain financing. It also looks at how to achieve better alignment and synergies between different sources of financing to achieve SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2, including climate finances, emergency funding and development finances, and the changes needed in the current financing architecture to achieve the scalable and innovative financing needed to achieve food security and address all forms of malnutrition.
