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UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday highlighted the need to address global hunger, promote cooperation between businesses and governments, and mitigate the damaging impact of continuing climate change on food production.

Addressing the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, in Rome, Mr. Guterres said that in a world of plenty, “it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger.”

Broken system

“Global food systems are broken - and billions of people are paying the price.”

According to UN estimates, over 780 million people experience hunger, almost one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted and nearly three billion people cannot afford healthy diets.

Developing countries face additional challenges, as limited resources and debt burdens prevent them from investing fully in food systems which can produce to nutritious food across the social spectrum.

Unsustainable food production, packaging and consumption are also contributing to the climate crisis, accounting for a third of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater usage, and driving biodiversity loss.

Grain deal collapse hits vulnerable

The recent termination of the Black Sea Initiative by Russia has further exacerbated the situation, Mr. Guterres said.

It enabled the export of millions of metric tons of food from Ukrainian ports, and together with the UN’s parallel accord with Russia on export of food and fertilizer, had been vital for global food security and price stability.

“With the termination of the Black Sea Initiative, the most vulnerable will pay the highest price,” he added, emphasizing that both Russia and Ukraine are crucial to global food security, urging Moscow to reverse course.

The UN chief said he remains committed to enabling unimpeded access to global markets for food and fertilizers from both countries, “and to deliver the food security that every person deserves.”

Three key areas for action

In his address, the UN chief cited three key areas for action, starting with “massive” investment in sustainable food systems.

“Starving food systems of investment means, quite literally, starving people,” he said, calling on governments to respond to UN’s call for an SDG Stimulus, amounting to at least $500 billion annually to support long-term financing for all countries in need.

Second, Mr. Guterres called on governments and businesses to collaborate and “put people over profit” in building food systems.

This involves exploring new ways to increase the availability of fresh, healthy food for all individuals, keeping food markets open, and removing trade barriers and export restrictions, he said.

Environmental sustainability

With food systems playing a key role in reducing carbon emissions and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Secretary-General called for food systems that reduce the carbon footprint of food processing, packaging, and transportation.

Harnessing new technologies to reduce the unsustainable use of land, water, and other resources in food production and agriculture is vital, he said, urging “stronger and faster action” to tackle the climate crisis and commit to reaching net-zero emissions by 2040 for developed countries and 2050 for emerging economies.

Assessing progress

Also speaking at the opening, Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), highlighted the importance of assessing progress in agrifood systems transformation towards reaching the 17 SDGs, agreed by all the world’s nations in 2015.

He noted the progress in identifying solutions agrifood systems can provide for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, including more sustainable farming, efficient water management, responsible packaging, reforestation and reduced food waste.

Mr. Qu added that these depended on transforming global agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.

“In the face of increasing uncertainties and multiple crises, we need to urgently undertake this transformation to fulfil the high expectations we have from our agrifood systems,” he said.

The Summit

From 24 to 26 July, the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment will convene over 2,000 participants from over 160 countries to review progress on the commitments made at the first Food Systems Summit in 2021, and identify successes, as well as continuing bottlenecks while refocusing priorities.

It includes a series of high-level events, dialogues and side events related to transforming agrifood systems on topics such as food waste, climate change, healthy diets, partnerships, science and technology, indigenous people’s knowledge, and transportation.

Echoing that warning in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that “short of a mini-Ice Age” in coming days, July 2023 would likely “shatter records across the board”.

“Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning,” said the UN chief, warning that the consequences are as clear as they are tragic: “children swept away by monsoon rains, families running from the flames (and) workers collapsing in scorching heat.”

‘Remarkable and unprecedented’

In Geneva, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service described conditions this month as “rather remarkable and unprecedented”.

They said that new data showed that so far, July has seen the hottest three-week period ever recorded and the three hottest days on record.

“We can say that the first three weeks of July have been the warmest three weeks periods ever observed in our record,” said Carlo Buentempo, Director of Copernicus Climate Change Service, via Zoom.

“This anomaly is so large with respect to other record-breaking months in our record that we are virtually certain that the month, the month as a whole will become the warmest July on record, the warmest month on record, in all likelihood.”

Ocean temperature record

Just as worrying was the fact that ocean temperatures are at their highest-ever recorded levels for this time of year. This trend has been apparent since the end of April.

Citing “a clear and dramatic warming decade on decade” since the 1970s, WMO’s Director of Climate Services Chris Hewitt noted that 2015 to 2022 saw the eight warmest years on record, based on a 173-year dataset.

This was despite the fact that the La Niña sea-cooling phenomenon prevailed towards the end of that period in the Pacific region, which reined in global average temperatures slightly, Mr. Hewitt explained.

“But now the La Niña has ended” - to be replaced by the sea-warming El Niño effect - waters have begun to heat up in the tropical Pacific, bringing the “almost certain likelihood that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record”.

It is also “more likely than not” that global average temperatures will temporarily exceed the 1.5°C threshold above pre-industrial levels “for at least one of the five years”, the WMO scientist continued.

‘Era of global boiling’

Speaking at UN Headquarters, the Secretary-General underscored the need for global action on emissions, climate adaptation and climate finance.

He warned that “the era of global warming has ended” and “the era of global boiling has arrived.”

Although climate change is evident, “we can still stop the worst,” he said. “But to do so we must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition.”

Climate action now

He said leaders “must step up for climate action and climate justice”, particularly those from the G20 leading industrial nations, responsible for 80 per cent of global emissions.

He pointed to upcoming summits - including the UN Climate Ambition Summit in September and the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in November - as critical opportunities.

Net-zero goal

Mr. Guterres highlighted the need for new national emissions targets from G20 members and urged all countries to push to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.

He said all actors must unite to accelerate the just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, while stopping oil and gas expansion and phasing out coal by 2040.

Action from companies, cities, regions, financial institutions and fossil fuel companies is also critical.

“No more greenwashing. No more deception. And no more abusive distortion of anti-trust laws to sabotage net zero alliances,” he said.

Four years of consecutive droughts have left families in southern Madagascar desperate and unable to feed themselves.

Investment for adaptation

With extreme weather “becoming the new normal”, Mr. Guterres appealed for “a global surge in adaptation investment” to save millions from the impacts of climate change, particularly in developing countries.

He said developed countries must present a clear and credible roadmap to double adaptation finance by 2025. Furthermore, all governments should implement a UN action plan aimed at ensuring everyone on the planet is protected by early warning systems by 2027.

Honour the commitment

On finance, the Secretary-General urged richer countries to honour their commitments to provide $100 billion annually for climate support in developing countries and to fully replenish the Green Climate Fund.

“I am concerned that only two G7 countries – Canada and Germany – have made replenishment pledges so far,” he said. “Countries must also operationalize the loss and damage fund at COP28 this year. No more delays or excuses.”

Mr. Guterres also reiterated the need for “a course correction in the global finance system” to support accelerated climate action.

Measures would include putting a price on carbon and getting multilateral development banks to scale up funding for renewable energy, adaptation, and loss and damage.

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