RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro a global alliance against hunger and poverty, an initiative he described as one of Brazil’s main priorities for its Current presidency of the Group of 20.
“Hunger is not something natural. Hunger is something that requires a political decision,” Lula said during a ministerial meeting to establish the global alliance. The leftist leader criticized the perpetuation of hunger around the world despite sufficient production.
Lula was seeking to shore up support ahead of the formal establishment of the alliance later this year, when world leaders will gather in Rio de Janeiro for the summit of the top 20 rich and developing countries on Nov. 18-19.
The event, held in downtown Rio, was attended by presidents of multilateral banks, foreign delegations, Brazilian ministers and members of UN agencies.
The alliance aims to implement a mechanism to mobilize funds and knowledge to support the expansion of policies and programs to combat inequality and poverty, according to a statement from Brazil’s G20 press office on Tuesday. It will be managed from a secretariat located at the Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome and Brasilia until 2030, and half of its costs will be covered by Brazil, Lula said in her speech.
World Bank President Ajay Banga expressed his support for the initiative during a bilateral conversation with Lula, according to a statement from the Brazilian presidency that also highlighted that the initiative is Brazil’s main proposal.
Lula, a former union leader who governed between 2003 and 2010, returned to the presidency for a third non-consecutive term in 2023. after frustrating the re-election attempt of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula, who was born into a poor family in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, has long sought to address hunger both at home and abroad.
Problems of food security and poverty are present throughout Brazil, from the Amazon to large urban centers, meaning the country can contribute expertise to the global debate, said Marcelo Cândido da Silva, a history professor at the University of Sao Paulo and vice coordinator of an international research project against hunger.
Brazil is also one of the world’s leading food exporters, sending large quantities of corn, soybeans, coffee, sugar, beef and chicken abroad.
Ending extreme poverty and hunger by 2030 is part of the goal The UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015, but progress has lagged.
Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people worldwide and one in five in Africa, according to the annual report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world. world, published in Rio on Wednesday.
There was a sharp increase in the number of people facing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and numbers have since remained stubbornly high despite progress in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a statement that accompanied the release of the report.
“A hunger-free future is possible if we can muster the resources and political will to invest in proven long-term solutions,” World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said in the statement.
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to hunger and poverty, said Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, during a side event highlighting the issue at the end of the day.
In addition to highlighting hunger and poverty, Brazilian diplomats are using the G20 presidency to push for reform of global governance institutions and advocate for a sustainable energy transition.
These efforts are part of Lula’s attempt to present his nation (and himself) as a leader of the Global South.
The alliance against hunger and poverty “allows Brazil to position itself as a leader because it brings an issue dear to the world’s poorest countries to a forum where they are not represented, the G20,” said Eduardo Mello, professor of international relations at the think tank and the Getulio Vargas Foundation university.
But there is a lack of political will due to the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, Mello said.
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