Plenary 1: Overview of the Global Food Security and Nutrition Situation

Madam/Mr Chair,

1. I am honoured to speak on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.
2. We are deeply concerned about current global negative trends as regards malnutrition in all its forms and food insecurity. Hunger and malnutrition have been increasing globally, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of COVID-19 exacerbate the situation. These trends call for urgent attention, political commitment and an acceleration of our concerted actions, but also the recognition of their underlying causes and of the challenges of our current food systems in terms of food security, human health, livelihoods, environment and climate.
3. We therefore welcome the recognition in both the SOFI 2020 Report and the CFS HLPE Report, Building a Global Narrative towards 2030, of the importance of more sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems in achieving the SDGs, in particular SDG 2.
4. In this respect, the EU and its 27 Member States particularly highlight CFS’s key role as a unique multi-stakeholder platform and the value of and the need for strong, multistakeholder partnerships at all levels, in particular with the private sector, in eradicating malnutrition in all its forms and fighting food insecurity. We also highlight the need to continue progress towards the realisation of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.
5. In this regard, we continue to highly value the work of the CFS in promoting scienceand evidence-based policies to reduce all forms of malnutrition by involving all relevant stakeholders and using multi-sectoral and territorial approaches and thus looking at the whole food system and its governance. We also reaffirm the key role of HLPE as science-policy interface providing evidence-based recommendations in the global governance of food security and nutrition.

Thank you, Madam/Mr Chair.