Sustainable Development Goal 2

In 2017, an estimated 821 million people were undernourished, up from 784 million in 2015. The following year, climate disasters forced an additional 29 million into acute food insecurity. Solutions to end hunger must address not only immediate needs, but also future food needs as the global population, now at 7 billion, soars to an estimated 9.7 billion people by 2050.

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

WRI’s Food Program conducts research and catalyzes action to help the world feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050 in a manner that advances economic development and food security while reducing the food system’s pressure on the environment, especially its climate impacts.

Published by WRI in collaboration with the World Bank, UNEP and UNDP, the landmark World Resources Report (WRR) “Creating a Sustainable Food Future” proposes a menu of solutions to sustainably feed the planet. Among them are boosting farmers’ yields (including smallholder farmers) on their existing agricultural lands (Target 2.3), increasing investment in orphan crops that would improve nutrition in Africa and Asia (Target 2.2), and improving access to resources (capacity, finance, secure tenure) to help farmers and fishers improve productivity (Target 2.3).

Combined, the menu of solutions would help the agricultural sector reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least two-thirds from current levels and avoid further conversion of natural ecosystems (Target 2.4). And it would help farm communities become more resilient to climate change (Target 2.4).

WRI is also catalyzing action on reducing food loss and waste, a major strategy for ending hunger (Target 2.1). WRI coordinates the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, which has emerged as the global standard, and convened Champions 12.3, a global coalition of public and private sector leaders championing action. Examples include a commitment by the world’s largest rice producers to halve on-farm and near-farm rice losses by 2030, $1 billion in World Bank bonds dedicated to food loss and waste, a “FLW Solutions Accelerator” that connects financing with young entrepreneurs offering food loss and waste technology solutions in Africa and Asia, and efforts by some of the world’s largest food companies to support their suppliers in reducing near farm food losses.