Alleviating world hunger, malnutrition essential for sustainable development, FAO report says

"Sustainable development cannot be realized unless hunger and malnutrition are eradicated, the [Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)] said in a policy document [.pdf] prepared for the Rio+20 Summit to be held in June in Rio de Janeiro," an FAO press release reports. "At the Rio Summit, we have the golden opportunity to explore the convergence between the agendas of food security and sustainability to ensure that happens," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said, according to the press release. The report says, "Improving agricultural and food systems is essential for a world with both healthier people and healthier ecosystems," the release notes (5/30). According to Reuters, "The governments attending the Rio+20 summit in June should commit themselves to speed up efforts to reduce hunger and malnutrition and use the U.N.'s voluntary guidelines on the right to food, the FAO said" (5/30).