U.N. High Level Task Force on Global Food Security to shift focus to 'Zero Hunger Challenge' initiative

"In the wake of the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's High Level Task Force on Global Food Security will be reoriented to focus on a new initiative as part of its efforts to ensure a coherent U.N. system approach to the issue of food and nutrition security," the U.N. News Centre reports. Noting "Ban launched an initiative known as the 'Zero Hunger Challenge,' which invites all countries to work for a future where every individual has adequate nutrition and where all food systems are resilient," at the conference last week, the news service writes, "The Task Force will be reoriented to focus on the challenge's five objectives as a guide for a coherent U.N. system approach to food and nutrition security."

According to the news service, "[t]he challenge's five main objectives are: achieving 100 percent access to adequate food all year round; ending malnutrition in pregnancy and early childhood; making all food systems sustainable; increasing growth in the productivity and income of smallholders, particularly women; and achieving a zero rate of food waste." "Chaired by the Secretary-General, the Task Force brings together the heads of the U.N. agencies, funds and programs, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization (WTO) with the aim of ensuring that the U.N. system, international financial institutions and the WTO are ready to provide robust and consistent support to countries struggling to cope with food insecurity," it notes (6/27).