The annual
Cesvi/Alliance 2015 report on the Global Hunger Index 2015, launched in collaboration with the European Commission, was presented on October 12, at the Conference Centre Orogel at Expo Milano 2015. For the occasion, the speakers focused on the relationship between food insecurity and armed conflicts, analyzing the social and political situation of 117 Countries worldwide. The day was introduced by
Daniela Bernacchi, Director General of Cesvi,
Bruno Antonio Pasquino, Commissioner General for Expo Milano 2015,
Dominic Macsorley, President Alliance 2015 and Concern Worldwide CEO, while the speakers at the round table entitled “European Leadership on hunger from 2015 to 2030” were
Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation and a researcher at Tufts University,
Maximo Torero, Director of the Markets, Commerce and Institutions Division of IFPRI,
Monique Pariat, Director General of DG ECHO,
Jean Pierre Halkin, Head of the Rural Development, Food Security and Nutrition Unit,
Mathias Mogge, Director of the Welthungerhilfe Program,
Pauline Riak, Executive Director of the Sudd Institute, South Sudan.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) presented by Cesvi/Alliance 2015 has attested the progress made in recent decades to fight the issue of poverty and lack of food for the peoples worldwide. “Hunger is a problem that humanity can solve,” saidAlex de Waal, “because we have registered important improvements: the number of people suffering from hunger has decreased.” The Director of the World Peace Foundation reiterates that to continue in the fight against food insecurity “in a world with an increasing population, it is necessary to develop democracy, education and communication of the people, because the real lever behind the reduction of hunger is the greater political freedom” and mentioning the theme of the conference he states that “ending the conflicts means solving the problem of hunger.”
During the meeting, it was underlined that, since the year 2000 until today, the world GHI has decreased by 27 percent, while 17 Countries worldwide including Azerbaijan, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil, have reduced their index by 50. The role of the cooperation and development organizations have had an active role in this great progress, especially “to spread awareness on the fact that one dollar invested in the prevention of natural disasters, and those caused by man saves seven dollars necessary to respond to the crisis.” For this reason, according to Halkin “it is necessary to find alternative mechanisms able to calculate the poverty indicators more precisely and fairly, in order to plan and then implement more targeted and efficient development strategies and tools.” Contextualizing the hunger issue to the realities of the conflict, the approach to resilience is the new model employed by governments to actualize the intervention policies of which the sustainable development objectives will put an end to hunger by 2030. The conference ended by involving the speakers in an open debate with the public on issues such as the influence, the effects and potential solutions to the land grabbing phenomenon, the promotion of gender equality and the role of the production of weapons in the fight against world hunger.
