Our Actions Our Future
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization was established to tackle the issue of global food shortage as well as hunger. Food is a basic necessity for survival and everyone has the right to good food. The lack or want of food leads to hunger and this may have a ripple effect as it can spur conflicts leading even to greater scarcity of food causing much hunger.
Hunger is a formidable master, it is a dreadful thing to fall into its hand. We need not look too far to find the reasons Robert Laurence wrote a short poem illustrating this very fact.
I am more terrible than armies,
I am more feared than the cannon.
Kings and chancellors give commands;
I give no command to any;
But I am listened to more than kings.
I am first and the last to be felt of the living,
I am Hunger…
- Robert Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has set up the 16th of October as a day to celebrate World Food Day. This day is set up to commemorate its establishment in November 1979 and raise awareness about the constant threat of hunger the world faces every year.
The theme for World Food Day 2020 is: Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future. The year 2020 would be a remarkable year in the calendars of world history that cannot be forgotten in a hurry. This year has witnessed a pandemic that has brought the world crawling on its knees, causing a global food shortage which resulted in millions of people going hungry. It has also witnessed the humanity in people as humans showed altruism by catering for the needs of others through donations and volunteering. There is no other time to take a deep look at the theme of this year’s World Food Day. We’ve not realize that there is a dire need to grow, to nourish and to sustain for in working together, our actions would determine our future.
In accordance with the purpose of its creation, the World Food Day raises awareness of the pressing issues of global hunger and food shortage, the plans to mitigate this now and in the nearest future as well as the actions that has been taken so far to bring into realization these plans. An important element to look at in this critical time is the Global Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal №2 which is #ZeroHunger. To attain #ZeroHunger, a responsible production and consumption would ensure a consistent availability of food for everyone and this can be accelerated by sustainability. The Global Sustainable Development Goals complements one another, in order to attain Goal №2 which is zero hunger; we may also need to consider other goals such as Goal №4 #QualityEducation; Goal №6 #CleanWaterAndSanitation; and Goal №13 #ClimateAction. These other goals are essential to attaining a Zero hunger in our society.
Working together in unity we would be able to attain a Zero hunger in the nearest future. Let us take responsibility.
18 October 2020
-Imoikor Joshua
#ZeroHunger #ClimateAction #CleanWaterAndSanitation #WorldFoodDay #QualityEducation #FAO #UN #InternationalDayForPovertyEradication #climatejustice
