BANGKOK, April 29 – The United Nations launched its ‘Zero Hunger Challenge’ in Asia and the Pacific here today with top national leaders present, calling on governments, farmers, scientists, business, civil society and consumers to join together to end hunger in the region where most of the world’s undernourished people live.
“We cannot rest while so many people go hungry in a world where there is enough food for all,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the ceremony attended by Timor-Leste prime minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, Solomon Islands prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, and Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Yukol Limlamthong.
“Sustainable development and inclusive growth will not happen on empty stomachs,” said Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
“It is unacceptable that [with all] our technological and agricultural expertise, more than 870 million people globally wake up hungry every morning, try to find the energy to make a living for their families through the day, and then still go to bed hungry at night,” Ms Heyzer added.
“Despite efforts to reduce hunger, and even with the rapid economic growth seen in much of Asia, progress in eradicating hunger has been very slow,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative.
“One in every eight people in Asia-Pacific lacks the most basic human right because they are victims of chronic hunger. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s chronically hungry people live in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said, saying that the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of reducing the extreme hunger by 2015 and ending hunger in our lifetimes is still achievable if we work harder.”
The worldwide ‘Zero Hunger Challenge’ proposed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012 seeks: total access to food for everyone, year round; ending stunted growth among children under two due to poor nutrition in pregnancy and infancy; sustainable food systems; doubled smallholder productivity and income; and reduced farm food loss due to poor storage and reducing wastage by retailers and consumers.
Attaining the Millennium Development Goal on poverty and hunger in Asia in the remaining 1000 days is the first step to eliminating hunger, Mr. Eliasson said. “We are counting on all partners to come together and make this happen. Governments, farmers, scientists, activists, businesses and consumers in Asia-Pacific all have to be part of this effort.”
