Debate: EU contribution to transforming global food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Tomas Tobé
Country: Estonia
Language: EN

The fact that our two committees joined forces shows that fighting hunger and malnutrition in the world is not only on the development agenda, but basically it is also our internal homework that we need to do in Europe, linked to the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy.  Food systems are complex and include the production, distribution and consumption of food. Without eradicating hunger and malnutrition, we cannot make any progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Transforming the way we produce, distribute and consume our food is highly topical, also thanks to the Food Systems Summit that will take place next week at the UN General Assembly. The attention is absolutely needed because we are far from reaching zero hunger by 2030.  In fact, hunger has kept increasing since 2014 and malnutrition rates are very worrying. Both have, of course, been made worse by the COVID pandemic. In 2020, hunger went up. The report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World provides a very worrying global assessment. One in every ten people on our planet is currently undernourished. In Africa, it is even double that, with one in five Africans undernourished.  The same appalling number is estimated globally for children under the age of five, with 22% of them suffering chronic malnutrition. We are talking about 150 million children. As we know, achieving SDG 2: ‘zero hunger’ is about ending hunger, but also about fighting malnutrition. That is why we look ahead to the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Tokyo in December. This Parliament already adopted a resolution in November 2014, calling on the Commission and the Member States to mobilise investments for nutrition and especially to fight child malnutrition. I am proud to say that the European Union was a nutrition champion at the first Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2013, which pledged EUR 3.5 billion until 2020. Ahead of the next summit, the financing gap is significant so of course we need to continue the European leadership on this issue. However, our ambition should not stop there. It is not only a question on how to feed a growing population, reaching 10 billion by 2050, but also how to protect the livelihoods of nearly 500 million farmers worldwide and preserve the natural resources to secure food production. Let me now read the question that we expect the Commission to answer today.  Firstly, how will the Commission ensure that the EU can take a leadership role in reaching SDG 2, including by making financial commitments for nutrition under the 2021—2027 budget, given the current huge global funding gap? Secondly, how does the Commission intend to use EU trade policy to support the global transition to a sustainable agri—food system in accordance with the Farm to Fork Strategy? Thirdly, what measures does the Commission intend to propose to support partner countries, and their local farmers, fishers, foresters and food producers in moving towards more sustainable practices in key areas such as animal welfare, the use of pesticides and the fight against agricultural resistance? We know that financial programming for the new Global Europe Instrument is under way. Resources will be limited and some hard choices will have to be made. I want to be clear and also to remind you that food security, peace and stability go hand in hand. The right to food is a human right, but it is not guaranteed for all today. I welcome that the European Union aims to lead by example in taking forward the transformation of the food system. We will follow the action launched at the Food Systems Summit and would like to see strong accountability from the governments and a clear role for the UN agencies. In addition to this, let me just mention that the Committee on Development will very soon start working on a report on food security in developing countries and the Commission’s answers today will of course already feed into that.  Let me conclude by saying that a substantial transformation of the agri—food system is required at global level. The European Union must actively promote this global transition to a sustainable food system in multilateral fora and international events such as the UN Food Systems Summit next week. I am confident that, by working together with stakeholders across all domains, we can move towards the transformation of the EU food system and be more resilient and more sustainable. I look forward to hearing from the Commission now about how Europe will actually deliver this transformation. On behalf of the Committee on Development and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, I am pleased to open up this debate now and I look forward to having the input from the Members and the Commissioner.