Zero Hunger Among Sustainable Development Goals

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Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals which are also known as Global goals were adopted by the United Nations as a Universal step towards ending poverty, protecting the planet, and ensure that by 2030, all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Sustainable development is referred to as the idea that human beings should sustain themselves by meeting their basic needs, while making sure that the future generations are able to meet their basic needs and enjoy the resources with no problem. It is a goal towards making today beautiful while also preparing nature for the future generations (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). In other words, it is a way of organising the society by which it can exist for a long duration without compromising on the availability and purity of resources for future generations.

In 2015, United Nation formulated 17 in total of these Sustainable global goals that included, No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Reduced Inequality, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life On Land, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, Partnerships for the Goals.

In 2017, the goals were simplified by the UN general assembly trough UN resolution to make them more actionable thus making the less inter dependable on each other. The resolution identified specific targets for each goal, along with indicators that are being used to measure progress toward each target. The year by which each country was to achieve some targets were meant to between 2020 and 2030. For some of the targets, no end date is given.

Objectives of Sustainable Development

There are 3 main objectives of Sustainable development goals that include;

Towards sustainable Economic Growth: For creating an economy that is sustainable and growing in the right direction in every country that is involved within the timelines.
Towards Protecting the Environment: This objective focuses on contribution by humans towards protecting and enhancing the natural environment, by minimising pollution and waste, also working towards reducing the global carbon footprint.
Social Inclusion: This objective focuses on providing the facility of housing for future generations and assisting in creating healthy, strong and vibrant global communities.

Importance of Sustainable Development

Following are the importance of sustainable development:

To prevent overexploitation of resources. As the main purpose of sustainability is to utilise current resource as we bear in mind the future generations, overexploitation of resources would be a step back hence the need to ensure every resource is maximized with the thought of the future.
Using the available resources judiciously and working with them towards maintaining the ecological balance.
To prevent degradation of the environment and laying emphasis on protecting the environment especially towards the goal of reducing global environment.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goal 2

Sustainable Development Goal 2 is the goal within the larger agenda that focuses on ending hunger and malnutrition, increasing agriculture productivity, and improving food system sustainability. SDG 2 has eight targets and 14 indicators to measure progress. The five “outcome targets” are:

Ending hunger and improving access to food to all.
Ending all forms of malnutrition especially among children.
Agricultural productivity sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices.
Genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals.
Investments, research and technology.

Hunger is not only caused by food shortage alone, but by a combination of natural, social, and political forces. Currently, natural resources that is necessary for human survival like freshwater, the ocean, forests, soils, and more are dwindling (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Climate change is contributing to the degradation of precious resources, as severe weather events, like droughts, become more common and affect harvests, leading to less food for human consumption. Poverty and inequality are also two drivers of hunger, affecting who can buy food, as well as what kind of food, and how much, is available.

Hunger is also a product of war and conflict especially in the Middle East countries and states within the sub-Saharan Africa. During periods of unrest, a country’s economy and infrastructure can become severely damaged. This negatively demands for food by driving up food prices, interfering with food production, or forcing people from their homes. Some governments and military groups have even used starvation as a war tactic, disconnecting civilians from their food supply. In 2018, the UN declared this tactic a war crime.

Despite the progress, research shows that more than 790 million people worldwide still suffer from hunger. There has been major progress in the fight against hunger over the last 15 years. In 2017, during a side event at the High-Level Political Forum under the theme of Accelerating progress towards achieving SDG 2: Lessons from national implementation”, a series of recommendations and actions were discussed. Stakeholders like the French UN mission, Action Against Hunger, Save The Children and Global Citizen were steering the conversation (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). It is unlikely there will be an end to malnutrition on the African continent by 2030.

By 2050, there will be an estimated additional 2 billion people to feed. Unfortunately, modern food production often erodes and degrades soils, and freshwater and ocean environments. This is resulting in increased pollution from waste, and sadly, the death and destruction of our biodiversity. The world’s expanding population is putting increased pressures on our natural resources. This means that the way food is produced and consumed needs to move towards more sustainable practices (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Goal 2 seeks to end global hunger and malnutrition by 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, and increase sustainable and resilient food production systems.

Achieving of Sustainable Development Goal 2 in the World

The SDG Index measures 149 countries, comparing their current progress with a baseline measurement taken in 2015. Among the top performing countries that are working towards the goals are as the table below.

Rank	Country	SDG Index
1	Sweden	84.5
2	Denmark	83.9
3	Norway	82.3
4	Finland	81.0
5	Switzerland	80.9
6	Germany	80.5
7	Austria	79.1
8	Netherlands	78.9
9	Iceland	78.4
10	United Kingdom	78.1

From the table, one can notice that Sweden has made a huge step towards working on the goals of Sustainable development. Europe countries and United States that are world class countries top the list for sustainability development while obviously 3^rd world countries would settle for the least indexes especially due to their lack funds and right technology to work on sustainability development.

Sweden Global Cooperation on Sustainable Development

According to Smart City Sweden, Sweden is relatively a small country with almost 10 million inhabitants. It is the world’s most sustainable country according to their reports that compare environmental, social, and governance components between nations (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Sweden plays a significant role in the European Union’s work for a sustainable society in the European Union. The stated purpose of Sweden’s global sustainable development proposal is towards a common and long-term sustainable environmental, social and economic development, linked to fighting poverty and hunger and inequality within and between countries”. It aims to ensure a better future and education, especially for the world’s children.

No Hunger Goal Implementation in Sweden

As indicated from the above indexes, Sweden has a better SDG index than all nations in the world. Access to food is good in Sweden. Hunger is among the exceptions and thus hunger and malnutrition among children in Sweden is minimal (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Swedish agriculture is not small-scale. Data shows an increasing productivity in Swedish agriculture. Sweden’s production value per annual full-time equivalent has increased in total over the past decade. Employment in the agricultural sector, measured as the number of full-time equivalents in the sector, has fallen continuously over a long period of time (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). At the same time greenhouse gas emissions per unit produced has decreased. Swedish animal production has a low use of antibiotics

The production capacity of Swedish farmland is assessed to be good. The status of the ecosystem services of cultivated land is assessed to be satisfactory today. The commitment regarding a sustainable agricultural area lacks an agreed definition. If the proportion of organically cultivated area, which however does not have a globally accepted definition, is used as an alternative indicator, this area has continuously increased in Sweden since 2005 (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). According to the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s 2017, follow-up of Sweden’s environmental objective “A Varied Agricultural Landscape”, which includes the preservation and strengthening of biodiversity, the development is negative.

Existing and adopted policy instruments are considered insufficient. According to compilations by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, just over 60 per cent of the local breeds are at risk in Sweden. The Programme for Diversity of Cultivated Plants has collected seeds and other older varieties throughout Sweden. The seeds are preserved in the Nordic Gene Bank and POM reintroduces old cultivated plants on the market. The Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, which works with projects supporting the conservation of genetic resources in developing countries, is supported by Swedish development cooperation.

How Sweden Has Worked Towards Global Goal of Zero Hunger

According to Smart City Sweden and Borgen articles (2019), Sweden reports very low rates of poverty and few issues with malnutrition. Malnutrition could occur from lack of quality nutritious food and hunger. According to Smart City Sweden, malnutrition is a limited issue in the nation and rarely impacts children’s growth. However, the organization has revealed there are inequalities in those who experience hunger depending on the resident’s social and economic positions (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Hunger is more likely to impact people living in poverty. Depending on the definition, there are varying rates of poverty in Sweden. Currently, absolute poverty is non-existent in Sweden. Yet, when focusing on relative poverty, 15% of the Swedish population is impoverished in comparison with the national median income. These low poverty rates also correlate with low rates of hunger in Sweden.

The Swedish welfare system and charity organizations help the hungry. The Swedish government provides its impoverished inhabitants with essential needs through its sizable welfare programs. For example, everyone in the nation has access to universal social insurance, making them less economically vulnerable and keeping hunger in Sweden low. In 2018, Sweden spent 26.1% of its GDP on social spending according so Smart City Sweden (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). This money went towards helping low-income households sustain their basic needs. Additionally, Sweden has organizations, such as Sweden’s City Missions, that aid those in need by supplying sleeping accommodations, clothing and food. According to its report, 62% of the organization’s poverty interventions deal with feeding the hungry; therefore, Sweden’s City Missions is helping eradicate hunger in Sweden.

Sweden is working on hunger initiatives with the United Nations. In 2018, the Swedish government and the United Nations World Food Programme partnered to combat global hunger through the signing of a Strategic Partner Agreement. The government made the most substantial contributions the organization has ever seen at $370 million (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). These funds go towards food assistance to help food crisis victims. Also, the Swedish government has partnered with the United Nations on global goals, one of which focuses on hunger. The objective is zero hunger and it aims to internationally end hunger, improve food security and advance nutrition.

There are numerous Swedish networks that have committed themselves to fighting world hunger through voluntary work and others. Many Swedish organizations are focusing on globally eradicating hunger as the issue of hunger becomes less prevalent in Sweden (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). The Swedish International Agriculture Network Initiative involves government officials, citizens and the private sector in the conversation on hunger. Its mission statement expresses the goal of encouraging discussion around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal: zero hunger.

To reach this goal, the initiative creates expert groups that educate people on hunger through articles and connects people who aim to take action in fighting hunger. On a larger scale, Smart City Sweden, the state-funded organization, works to end hunger by focusing on sustainability (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). For instance, Smart City Sweden has successfully worked towards this goal through intervening in global agriculture. The organization has donated a large amount of money towards making agriculture more effective, moving the world closer towards ensuring food security.

Sweden’s Challenges in Tackling Goal 2

Sweden’s challenge regarding Goal 2 includes

Tackling overweight and obesity among the population
Ensuring environmental sustainability and biodiversity in agriculture and
Strengthening all sustainability dimensions in the entire food chain.

Can Targets of No Hunger Be Met?

In my own opinion, given the all the 14 targets for no hunger, if well followed by all countries and other organisations such as UNICEF that are working towards ending hunger and providing better nutrition. Then we would be looking towards a generation with no or a less significant number of no hunger issues in the global (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). The journey towards this goal by 2030 has been challenging and some of the challenges are as below

Challenges Facing No Hunger Goal

Rising population: The world’s population is expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, two thirds of which will live in cities and urban areas.
Lack of sufficient funds: With rising population, Additional investments in agriculture of $265 billion a year are needed to eradicate hunger and poverty by 2030.
At the current rate of progress some 637 million people, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will still not have enough to eat in 2030.
Expansion of agriculture land continues to be the main cause of deforestation, with almost 50% of forests that once covered the planet now gone.
Agriculture is responsible for 70% of all water used and almost half of rural populations worldwide live in river basins classified as water scarce.
Climate change is expected to affect crop yields, increasing the frequency of floods and droughts and resulting in ever-erratic rainfall.
An estimated 1.3 billion tons, or about one third of all food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted every year.

Solution to the problem/ recommendations

Subsidising on agricultural exports

Subsiding on agriculture exports begins when countries also subsidise on agricultural products in order to help in the long run price subsidising on exports. This would include ploughing a lot of money on agricultural technology, subsidising on agricultural items such as fertilizers, training of farmers on better ways of farming and opening up agricultural institutions and finally opening up agricultural industries and processing plants for their produces (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017). Countries likes the United States have invested billions of dollars on agricultural subsidies just to help make food affordable and have an excess production of food within the country that can be exported at cheaper prices thus help reduce world hunger.

Agriculture is the only way we are going to stand a chance of ending hunger and achieving better nutrition in the world. Therefore, it’s in my opinion that governments and other involved entities work on investing on subsidising agriculture production and cut in policies that would help minimising prices of exported food to other nations. This also includes correcting of trade restrictions within borders. If this is done then we stand a better chance in improving the Sustainable development indexes towards the desired targets by 2030.

Agricultural Orientation Index for Government Expenditure

This simply means the ratio index of government or entity expenditure on agriculture and its aids against its total expenditure. This is how expenditure is directed towards agriculture, its research, technology, rural infrastructure, technologies, international relations, livestock farming and gene banks especially in developing and least developed countries.

For the goal to be achieved, especially with least developed and developing nations, they have to show their commitment towards ending poverty by making budgets that lean well towards projects and would enable agriculture. With other international entities also helping the developing and under developed nations, they should also consider doing the same. It is worth being noted that in 2020 the breaking COVID-19 pandemic really slowed global growth towards sustainable development that also included hunger goal. Most international organisation and governmental budgets leaned towards treating, research and helping slow the virus. A lot of funds were used during the pandemic thus making the 2020 goal near impossible to most nations.

In conclusion, Sustainable development goals are achievable and most likely very interrelated to one another. This means that working towards all at the same time would be a lot better than just one especially if we relate poverty and hunger, it is most likely that people living under extreme poverty would still have harder time accessing food and good nutrition to their children no matter the prices of the food being low. They would still end up having no meals or meals that are nutritious enough. Therefore, I would recommend a unified working and helping each other towards these goals as they keep us on track towards a better world.

Reference

Government Offices of Sweden (Ed.). (2017). Goal 2: Zero hunger. Regeringskansliet.

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