FAO Considers Regional LATAM and Caribbean Efforts against Hunger

Havana, March 12 (ACN) United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) deputy director general Mario Lubetkin considered on Tuesday that the Latin American and Caribbean commitment against hunger and malnutrition advanced with the recent update of the plan drawn up by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

In a recent article, the FAO official wrote that on March 1st, CELAC reviewed and ratified its Plan of Food Security, Nutrition and the Eradication of Hunger for the 2024-2030 period and noted that this was an important contribution by the region to step up the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals agreed to during the CELAC Summit, held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to FAO estimates, in 2022 some 6.5 percent of the population of this part of the world went hungry, which stood for 2.4 million people less than in 2021. However, the situation continues to be critical as hunger keeps affecting 43.2 million inhabitants, the FAO executive said.

The limited access to resources and services, poverty, the impact of COVID-19, conflicts and catastrophes related to climate among other factors are affecting ecosystems, which are crucial sources of food production and the livelihood of agricultural communities.

These phenomena, wrote the executive, “threaten efforts to guarantee food security and nutrition and sustainability of agriculture systems.”

In this scenario, the CELAC plan is a concrete initiative stemming from the unanimous response by over thirty nations which, at the ministerial level, reached consensus on the update of this plan to address the challenge posed by hunger and food inequality, wrote the FAO official.
The FAO is making the final preparations to hold a regional conference in Georgetown, Guyana, whose agenda will count on the valuable contribution of CELAC.