The Rio+20 Conference last week witnessed the launch of the "Zero Hunger Challenge," an initiative calling for resilient global food systems and adequate nutrition for every individual. The Challenge encompasses five goals:

Achieving 100 percent access to adequate nutrition for every individual year-round.
Ending malnutrition during pregnancy and early childhood.
Making all food systems sustainable.
Increasing the productivity and income growth of smallholder farmers, particularly women.
Achieving zero percent food waste.

Sustainable development is receiving increasingly widespread attention, being prioritized by the recent G8 Summit and upcoming G20 and Rio+20 Summits. But how can sustainable development realistically be achieved when millions of people worldwide live in food insecurity?

IFPRI's Africa Director, Ousmane Badiane , recently participated at the Washington meeting of the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) and sat down for an interview about the role of global donors in enhancing food security and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The interview highlights the progress made by the initiative and emphasizes the need for continued mutual accountability and coordination of efforts by donors and countries,

Today marks the 19th annual World Water Day, a campaign designed to draw attention to pressing issues related to sustainable global water use. The theme of this year's World Water Day is Water and Food Security, an issue that will only grow in importance as the world approaches a population of 9 billion.

FEWS NET has released the latest global price watch, citing declining food prices in Central America, Haiti, and West Africa. Despite ongoing harvests in Kenya, Somalia, and other regions in the Horn of Africa, the region continues to experience extremely high prices. Meanwhile, conflict in Sudan and South Sudan is threatening food security in the area, as are trade restrictions and poor harvest predictions.

Download the full report and annex

Files:

full report
annex

FEWS NET has released its monthly price watch for June 2011, citing stable and declining prices for wheat and maize in May.

Download the https://www.foodsecurityportal.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/june_201… full report and annex

Files:

june_2011.pdf
annex

The US Senate on Thursday voted to eliminate billions of dollars in federal ethanol subisidies, making it unlikely that the current 45-cent-per-gallon subsidy for refiners and 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol will be extended beyond the end of the year.

On February 18-19, a meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in Paris to address ongoing global financial and economic challenges. This initial meeting acknowledged that although the global economy has seen a certain level of recovery, there are still challenges and pitfalls to overcome in order to achieve the G20 mandate of improved economic growth and development.