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On July 24, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in his role as the president of the G20 group of nations, launched a much-needed — and much-delayed — initiative to fight two of the world’s most basic but critical problems: hunger and extreme poverty.
These twin projects are among a clutch of initiatives Lula has announced as part of his program for Brazil’s year-long presidency of the G20. Others include global reforms of taxation to create a system that is more fair and ensures the wealthy are not able to avoid paying their share through clever accountancy or fudging of figures.
Lula has also initiated a move to preserve forests through efforts to curb logging and deforestation activities in partnership with Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; the three countries contain the largest combined area of tropical rainforest in the world.
While all of these moves are much needed and important for the entire world, it is his latest initiative, a global war on extreme poverty and hunger, that is the most critical and urgent, as it addresses the pressing issue of the very survival of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The eradication of hunger and extreme poverty figure high among the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, through the adoption of which the global community has pledged to eliminate both of these scourges by 2030. Between 2015 and 2019, some progress was made toward achieving both goals but since then, unfortunately, the world as a whole has seen a major backslide.
Extremely high food inflation began to grip parts of the world in 2019 and really took hold globally in 2020. Since then it has continued to ravage the world, affecting rich countries as much as poor ones. The situation took a further turn for the worse in 2022 with the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and there is little sign that it will ease.
The crisis caused by this double whammy has led to very severe consequences for the most vulnerable people around the world. Already extremely poor, they have been exposed to particularly high levels of food insecurity and face hunger on a regular basis. High food inflation and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused their situation to become even more precarious.
The world as a whole, and some key regions and countries in particular, have experienced big slides in their efforts to tackle the issues and meet their commitments related to the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2022, according to UN figures, about 9.2 percent of the global population faced chronic hunger, compared with 7.9 percent in 2019. About 29.6 percent, or 2.4 billion people, lack consistent access to food, and as many as 900 million face severe food insecurity, an increase of 134 million compared with 2019.
Lula has taken the lead and set out a road map for doing so. The other leaders simply need to sign on and resolve to fulfill their parts of the bargain in a fair and sincere manner.
Ranvir S. Nayar
With barely six years until the deadline for achieving the sustainability goals, the initiatives implemented by Lula could not have come soon enough. Here, the G20 has a key role to play. Its member countries are home to almost 70 percent of the global population. They are the 20 largest economies, accounting for almost 80 percent of global gross domestic product. As such, they have a special responsibility to tackle these and other global issues; there is no other group in such a good position to do so.
There is another reason why the G20 should tackle these issues as a matter of priority. Some member countries have large numbers of people facing one or both the problems; India, for example, and Brazil itself. Despite a sharp drop in 2022 in the numbers of people affected, about 7 percent of Brazilians continue to live in extreme poverty and a similar proportion faces severe food insecurity.
The situation is much worse in India, which held the presidency of the G20 last year. Not only is it the most-populated country, it also has the largest number of people facing extreme food insecurity. The Global Hunger Index 2024 found that even though it is the biggest producer of milk, wheat, and numerous fruits and vegetables, India ranks 111 out of 125 nations in the world in terms of hunger and food insecurity. UN figures reveal the country is home to more than 190 million malnourished people, and as much as 75 percent of the population cannot afford nutritious food.
About 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty worldwide, mostly in Africa and Asia. More than a third of all the global poor live in South Asia, with India alone accounting for more than 225 million of them.
Such figures illustrate why the G20 must be at the forefront of efforts to tackle head on these two basic challenges of hunger and extreme poverty, and must ensure that Lula’s recent initiatives not only receive the wholehearted support of all members and associated organizations but that all G20 member countries, rich and not-so-rich alike, work together to address this wrong and put things right.
Tackling both these problems would be a less daunting challenge if government leaders really got more serious about doing so. There is adequate food production and enough resources in the world to ensure that no one is forced to live in extreme poverty, and that every human being can enjoy at least three square meals every day that contain the right balance of nutrients.
Certainly, it would call for slight tweaks to government policies and international cooperation. But it would be relatively easy to achieve if the global leaders who will gather in November at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro made the decision to take effective action to rid the planet of these two scourges.
Lula has taken the lead and set out a road map for doing so. The other leaders simply need to sign on and resolve to fulfill their parts of the bargain in a fair and sincere manner.
Achieving these two goals by 2030 might not solve all the problems the world faces but it would at least show that through sincerity and humanity it is possible to overcome these basic challenges the world continues to face.
- Ranvir S. Nayar is the managing editor of Media India Group and founder-director of the Europe India Foundation for Excellence.