Let’s make Zero Hunger a Reality

Tuesday 16th October 2018

Many of us remember vividly the pictures from the 1980s and 90s of starving children in Africa. Then the world united and answered the call for help. Thankfully for a number of years world hunger was on the decline. Now it is on the rise again.  Today, over 821 million people are suffering chronic undernourishment. Each year food waste in this country is comparable to taking Wembley Stadium as an imaginary bowl and filling it to the brim 9 times over. And at the same time 1.2billion people will simply go to bed tonight not having had enough to eat. We are likely to scrape off our plates at the end of a meal up to 30% of the food that has been placed before us. We produce more than enough to feed the world, but we throw it away or make it unaffordable. Something has to change.

That is why we are supporting the call on World Food Day to make zero world hunger by 2030 a reality. It is time to realise that our actions are our future. We will be judged on the world we leave for future generations.

Everyone has a role to play in achieving Zero Hunger.  Governments have  an important  role  to  play  but  they  can’t  do  it  alone. We all need to say that foodbanks are not acceptable, we need to say that rising world hunger needs to end and we need to take action ourselves. In our homes, in our schools and in our own places of work.

Here in Greater Manchester we have been involved in the launch of the Greater Manchester Food Poverty Alliance. The aim of the alliance is to bring together the work of groups already on the ground and expand on the role of the public sector to tackle some of the issues around food poverty.  The joint strategic action will produce a Food Poverty Action Plan for Greater Manchester that will aim to:

• Reduce and prevent food poverty
• Support communities to plan and adapt to the challenge of food poverty

The alliance will be producing a food action plan for Greater Manchester early next year but there are actions we can all take now. Small actions that use our resources more sustainably. If each of us aim to reduce our individual food waste and change our attitude of food to one of respect, we can all make a difference together.