World hunger fell overall last year, but continued to rise in most of Africa and western Asia, according to a new report — The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) — published by five specialized UN agencies and released Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Roughly 8.2 percent of the world’s population — about 673 million people — suffered from hunger in 2024, a press release from FAO said. The number was down from 8.7 percent in 2022 and 8.5 percent in 2023.

“While it is encouraging to see a decrease in the global hunger rate, we must recognize that progress is uneven. SOFI 2025 serves as a critical reminder that we need to intensify efforts to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. To achieve this, we must work collaboratively and innovatively with governments, organizations, and communities to address the specific challenges faced by vulnerable populations, especially in regions where hunger remains persistent,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in the press release.

Between 638 and 720 million people faced hunger in 2024.

Swipe to learn what are the policy solutions to help address the impacts of high food prices on global hunger.

buff.ly/AQA3wsf

#SOFI2025

[image or embed]

— Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (@fao.org) July 29, 2025 at 1:31 PM

The report indicates that from 638 to 720 million people faced hunger last year, representing a decrease of approximately 15 million from 2023 and 22 million from 2022.

The number of those who were undernourished in Asia fell to 6.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent two years earlier. The Caribbean and Latin America also saw improvements, with undernourishment decreasing to 5.1 percent of the population — 34 million people — in 2024, following a 2020 peak of 6.1 percent.

“Unfortunately, this positive trend contrasts sharply with the steady rise in hunger across Africa and western Asia, including in many countries affected by prolonged food crises. The proportion of the population facing hunger in Africa surpassed 20 percent in 2024, affecting 307 million people, while in western Asia an estimated 12.7 percent of the population, or more than 39 million people, may have faced hunger in 2024,” FAO said.

At the same time, those experiencing constraints on adequate food access for part of the year — “moderate or severe food insecurity” — decreased to 28 percent in 2024, or 2.3 billion people, down from 28.4 percent in 2023.

“In recent years, the world has made good progress in reducing stunting and supporting exclusive breastfeeding, but there is still much to be done to relieve millions of people from the burdens of food insecurity and malnutrition,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

In low-income countries, 544.7 million people—that’s 72% of the population—couldn’t afford a healthy diet in 2024.

Food is a basic right, not a luxury.

Learn more in the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report bit.ly/4mjX2nK #SOFI2025

[image or embed]

— WHO (@who.int) July 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM

It is estimated that 512 million people could experience chronic undernourishment by 2030, nearly 60 percent of whom will be in Africa. FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations agency for children (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said this highlights the enormous challenge of reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.

The report examined the consequences and causes of the food price surge of 2021 to 2023 and its effect on global food security and nutrition. Food price inflation — caused by a combination of the world’s policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine and extreme weather across the globe — has hindered recovery in nutrition and food security since 2020.

Low-income nations have been especially impacted by rising food prices.

“While median global food price inflation increased from 2.3 percent in December 2020 to 13.6 percent in early 2023, it climbed even higher in low-income countries, peaking at 30 percent in May 2023,” FAO said.

But even with rising food prices around the world, the number of those not able to afford to eat a healthy diet fell to 2.6 billion last year, down from 2.76 billion in 2019.

However, in low-income countries, the number of those who couldn’t afford a healthy diet rose to 545 last year, up from 464 million five years earlier. In lower-middle-income nations other than India, the number increased to 869 million from 791 million during the same period.

“In times of rising food prices and disrupted global value chains, we must step up our investments in rural and agricultural transformation. These investments are not only essential for ensuring food and nutrition security – they are also critical for global stability,” said IFAD President Alvaro Lario.

The report recommended a combination of food price inflation policy responses, including transparent and credible monetary policies aimed at containing inflationary pressures; time-bound and targeted fiscal measures like social protection programs to shield vulnerable households; and strategic investing in agrifood research and development, market information systems to boost resilience and productivity and transportation and production infrastructure.

“Every child deserves the chance to grow and thrive. Yet over 190 million children under the age of 5 are affected by undernutrition, which can have negative consequences for their physical and mental development. This robs them of the chance to live to their fullest potential,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We must work in collaboration with governments, the private sector and communities themselves to ensure that vulnerable families have access to food that is affordable and with adequate nutrition for children to develop. That includes strengthening social protection programs and teaching parents about locally produced nutritious food for children, including the importance of breastfeeding, which provides the best start to a baby’s life.”

The post Global Hunger Fell Overall in 2024, but Rose in Africa and Western Asia as Climate and Conflict Threaten Progress: UN Report appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/global-hunger-2024.html

Earth Overshoot Day is the point in the year when human demand for materials obtained from nature exceeds what the Earth can naturally regenerate in one year. For 2025, Earth Overshoot Day fell on July 24, the earliest it has been since the event was first calculated in 2006.

The Earth Overshoot Day was first launched in 2006 by Andrew Simms, an author, political economist and campaigner, in collaboration with Global Footprint Network, as reported by Sustainability Magazine. Since then, Earth Overshoot Day is calculated and announced annually. Since 2006, the date has come earlier and earlier, signaling just how rapidly human consumption habits are growing and stripping the planet of its resources.

This year, Global Footprint Network also recalculated previous Earth Overshoot Days, even prior to 2006, for greater accuracy.

According to the latest calculations, Earth Overshoot Day fell as late as December 31 in 1972 but crept up to November 3 by 1979. In the early 1980s, the date went back into early December, only to reach October 12 by 1989.

The date stayed in October from 1989 until 1999, when it reached September 25. In 2006, when Earth Overshoot Day was first announced, the latest calculations put the event on August 22.

The date reached July for the first time in 2018, returned back to August briefly in 2020, and has remained in July ever since. The previous earliest record was July 25, which happened in 2022 and 2023. The world reaching its earliest-ever Earth Overshoot Day highlights how much humanity is consuming and how nature cannot continue to keep up with such high demand.

Today is #EarthOvershootDay.
Falling on July 24th means that humanity is currently using nature 1.8 times faster than Earths ecosystems can regenerate.
#OvershootDay

[image or embed]

— Global Footprint Network (@footprintnetwork.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 12:33 AM

We are currently using nature 1.8 times faster than it can regenerate, according to Global Footprint Network. Consumption of freshwater, trees, and seafood are all examples of natural items that cannot replenish as quickly as they are depleted, not to mention that humanity is emitting far more carbon than ecosystems can absorb.

But as Global Footprint Network pointed out in this year’s Earth Overshoot Day announcement, depleting resources at this pace has a cumulative effect, even if the date stays steady. With consumption outpacing replenishment, the pressure increases, as we have already seen with humanity nearly exceeding seven of nine planetary boundaries.

“We are stretching the limits of how much ecological damage we can get away with. It is now a quarter into the 21st century and we owe the planet at least 22 years of ecological regeneration, even if we stop any further damage now,” Lewis Akenji, board member of Global Footprint Network, said in a statement. “If we still want to call this planet home, this level of overshoot calls for a scale of ambition in adaptation and mitigation that should dwarf any previous historical investments we have made, for the sake of our common future.”

It is not too late to start correcting course for the future. According to Global Footprint Network, moving the date is possible through several different actions that have been outlined in a campaign called the Power of Possibility.

One of the biggest improvements would be by cutting carbon emissions 50% to move Earth Overshoot Date farther into the year by three months.

Reducing global food waste by half would push the date 13 days, establishing a Green New Deal at global scale could move the date 42 days, and generating at least 75% of electricity from renewables could push the date by 26 days.

“Because of the nature of physics, overshoot cannot last. It will end either by deliberate design or dumped-on disaster,” Mathis Wackernagel, co-founder and board member of Global Footprint Network, said in a statement. “It should not be too hard to choose which one is preferable, particularly in light of so many possible choices.”

The post Earth Overshoot Day Reaches Record for Earliest Date appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/earth-overshoot-day-2025.html

Image: Tom-Fisk

Can agriculture meet the demands of a growing world population while ensuring environmental sustainability? Daniel Lapidus, Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at RTI International, highlights important trends on both the supply and demand sides that suggest we are heading in the right direction.

It’s easy to look around and see stark challenges facing the agricultural sector – decreased investments, erratic weather, unpredictable commodity prices and thin margins for most farmers. Growth in Total Factor Productivity (TFP), or the metric used to track how efficiently agricultural output is produced, has slowed to its lowest rate in decades. This is occurring at a time when the world not only needs to ramp up production to meet the needs of a growing global population that demands more diverse foods, but also to do so in a way that ensures the health of our planet.

The agricultural sector has overcome challenges in the past. For example, the Green Revolution and subsequent widespread technological advancements brought us unprecedented agricultural production over the last 75 years that has tripled yields, keeping supplies high enough and prices low enough to avoid mass starvation. However, this progress has come at a cost, impacting water availability, leading to biodiversity loss and rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite this history, it would be a false choice to think that agriculture has to choose between productivity and sustainability. There is increasing alignment between these two goals on both the supply (farmer) and demand (consumer) sides.

Supply-side Technology Trends

Farmers need to be nimble and resilient to stay profitable, which means investing in solutions that are both efficient and preserve the long-term viability of the land and soil. Three technology areas that are gaining traction and have the potential to transform the future of agricultural sustainability are:

• Agricultural biotechnology: Genetically modified organisms and gene editing, along with biostimulants, biofertilizers and biocontrols, received $1.9 billion in venture capital investment last year, representing the top investment in the farm tech category. Powered by artificial intelligence, there is potential to accelerate even more rapidly, making crops more drought resilient, increasing their nutritional content and combatting emerging pests and diseases.
• Precision agriculture: Enabled by GPS, precision agriculture allows farmers to boost yields while using fewer inputs. However, these technologies have been adopted mainly by large-scale farms and have yet to be successful in reaching smaller, less technologically advanced farms. Growth in precision technologies, including agri-fin tech, remote sensing and blockchain, is expanding opportunities to reach farmers both directly and passively through innovations in track and trace technologies, digital commerce and improved access to finance. They are also showing promise in developing countries.
• Regenerative agriculture: Regenerative agriculture embodies principles and management practices aimed at improving soil health, including minimizing tillage, planting cover crops, leaving residues on the soil and diversifying cropping and livestock systems. These principles have become increasingly sophisticated, and the body of evidence around their benefits is growing. Localized benefits to farmers include reduced input costs, decreased erosion, increased soil moisture content and enhanced soil carbon sequestration.

Demand-side Sustainability Drivers

The success of these innovations relies on markets that incentivize them. As the environmental sustainability movement evolves, consumers are demanding healthier food that doesn’t contribute to deforestation, climate challenges or water quality degradation. This demand and other equally important trends on the demand side continue to incentivize agricultural sustainability:

• Private Sector Sustainability Commitments: More than 600 large commercial food and beverage companies, including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Cargill and PepsiCo, have set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of the Science Based Targets Initiative. Companies are also addressing sustainability issues like food loss and waste and finding alternatives to plastic packaging. If companies stick with these targets, a significant amount of investment currently sitting on the sidelines will need to be deployed.
• Food is Medicine Movement: This movement has grown out of recognition that nutrition-based interventions can be more cost-effective than traditional medical treatments. It is gaining public and private sector support as evidenced by the Make America Healthy Again Initiative in the U.S., and driven by consumer demand for foods that contain less additives, are less processed and are grown using fewer chemical inputs.
• Overcoming Transition Costs. Private sector commitments and consumer demand are necessary, but not sufficient, to finance the initial transition costs associated with the rapid adoption of sustainable technologies. Multiple foundations, multilateral institutions, development banks and national and sub-national governments have set up mechanisms and partnerships to address this challenge. However, scaling these efforts will take time.

Collective Approach

Agriculture sector innovation has been able to overcome fears that our food supply could not meet the rising demands of a growing population. However, looking ahead, it’s unlikely that a single solution will emerge for all productivity and sustainability challenges. Instead, it will require collective and collaborative action and investment in interconnected innovations with environmental, social, and economic sustainability at their core, supporting a healthier population, planet and meeting market demands.

The post Bright Spots for Sustainable Agriculture appeared first on USSA.

Bright Spots for Sustainable Agriculture