SDG2 Advocacy Hub Update: A critical year ahead on our path to achieving good food for all
February 24, 2021
The SDG2 Advocacy Hub reflects on moments and opportunities to accelerate SDG2 progress in this crucial year 2021 and in the lead up to the UN Food Systems Summit.
2020 was a challenging year on many levels. In addition to the lives lost and the devastating health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic impact has resulted in lost livelihoods and a rise in food insecurity and hunger. The pandemic also made visible significant weaknesses and deep inequities in our food systems, highlighting the urgent need for a food systems transformation.
This new year 2021 offers a once-in-a-decade opportunity for food systems to hit the global stage at the highest level and drive progress towards the Global Goals with many global advocacy moments. As the SDG2 community works towards harmonising and coordinating actions across agriculture as well as nutrition and food security to advance agreed policy and mobilise resources, the SDG2 Advocacy Hub has an important role to play in engaging in, supporting and amplifying work in the SDG2 space and across the whole 2030 Agenda with a connection to the Good Food For All narrative. In this article, we aim to spotlight some of these upcoming moments and how the Hub will engage, in the context of relevant research and science.
Reports and data
How much does it cost to end hunger? At the heart of the 2030 Agenda was a promise to prioritise two goals: to eradicate poverty and to end hunger and malnutrition in all their forms. While global hunger has been declining since 2000, the absolute number of hungry or undernourished people remains high, at 690 million people in 2019, according to the 2020 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report. Covid-19 has exacerbated this situation, highlighting that we are not on track to achieve SDG2 by 2030. In October 2020, the Ceres2030 research team published their new analysis on the total additional spending needed to achieve SDG2. To create a world without hunger, donors should double their spending, translating to an additional $14 billion on average each year. Investments must be evidence-based and designed to support each other, they must include support of agricultural R&D and social protection programmes that provide food or cash to those in need, and drive inclusion. Moreover, spending should focus on where the need is greatest, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Events and global moments
The UN Food Systems Summit: Convened by the UN Secretary-General, the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) will be the landmark moment of 2021 around which the rest of the year will pivot, and hence a high priority for the SDG2 Advocacy Hub both at the level of the Secretariat and its member 
organisations. Aspiring to shape global commitments and to raise global awareness of food systems, the summit will be a key opportunity for delivery on the SDGs, including a clear focus on SDG2 embedded within the food systems approach. The Hub will play a role in coordination across SDG2 key actors to ensure strong input into the summit’s outcomes. To support the food systems lens following the summit, the Lancet will launch a Countdown to 2030 report on Transforming Food Systems, an annual publication to monitor the transformation of food systems, gather data to track its performance and highlight actions to achieve scale.
Nutrition for Growth (N4G): More must be done in 2021 to prevent a backslide on nutrition. Recent research by Standing Together for Nutrition estimates that by 2022, Covid-19 could result in an additional 9.3 million wasted and 2.6 million stunted children. The pandemic has pushed the 2025 and 2030 global nutrition targets further out of reach. Against this backdrop, the Civil Society Nutrition Year of Action Taskforce – coordinated by ICAN and SUN CSN – leads efforts to secure financial and policy commitments for N4G. The Hub is playing a supporting role in this process, helping to amplify activity and make clear links between N4G and other 2021 moments and actors, particularly the UNFSS. Look out for the 8 March launch of the Lancet Maternal and Child Undernutrition series.
Expo 2020 – the first ever World Expo in the Middle East – will be hosted by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and take place from October 2021 to March 2022. The SDG2 Advocacy Hub will partner with Expo, providing general advisory on SDG2, content inputs on food, agriculture and gastronomy, event design, development and delivery, and curating two ministerial dinners on the Global Goals.
New approaches and strategies
One CGIAR: In 2021, CGIAR – a global research partnership for a food secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources – will come together as one organisation. Moreover, CGIAR has launched a new Research & Innovation Strategy for a new era in January, aiming to transform food, land and water systems in a climate crisis. The strategy will be supported by a new brand and resource mobilisation campaign to champion food system innovation across a series of key impact areas. The SDG2 Advocacy Hub will work to support the new strategy, raising awareness around the importance of research in an integrated way to meet goals across food systems and SDG2.
Fortification collaboration: Fortification is often met with mistrust and confusion by consumers. Leveraging the voices of chefs, the SDG2 Hub is partnering to raise the knowledge of fortified foods and their ability to tackle global nutrition challenges.
Replenishments
IFAD12 & GAFSP Replenishments: Both the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an international financial institution dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries, and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a global financial instrument focusing on fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the world’s poorest countries, are on track for their funding targets as they enter the second year of their replenishments.
We stand at a crossroads on our way towards 2030, in this Decade of Action. 2021 has the potential to be a catalytic year, not only by moving beyond the silos within SDG2 and coordinating action on ag, nutrition, and food security, but also by acknowledging that no single group is responsible for transforming food systems to become more inclusive, nutritious, sustainable and resilient. The responsibility for functioning food systems is shared between a multitude of stakeholders, and touches on all Global Goals, beyond just SDG2.
Get involved in the UNFSS by becoming a Food Systems Hero or hosting an Independent Summit Dialogue, and join the SDG2 Advocacy Hub on the first Wednesday of each month for its networking meetings (sign up here) to stay informed about UNFSS communications, key reports, upcoming events and other opportunities.