Keynote Address:

• Homi Kharas, Senior Director of the Global Economy and Development Program, The Brookings Institution  (Presentation | Video)

Report Highlights:

• Kostas Stamoulis, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Development Department, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  (Video)

Remarks:

• Congressman Jim McGovern, 2nd District of Massachusetts and Co-Chair of the House Hunger Caucus  (Video)
• Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO’s Liaison Office for North America  (Video)

Panelists:

• Anselm Hennis, Director of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health (NMH), Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)  (Video)
• Lucy Martinez Sullivan, Executive Director, 1,000 Days  (Video)
• Rob Vos, Director of Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI   (Video)

Moderator:

• Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, and Chief of Staff, Director General’s Office, IFPRI (Video)
• Q&A Video

The 2017 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World gives updated estimates of the number and proportion of hungry people on the planet and includes data for the global, regional, and national levels. It offers a significant update on the shifting global milieu that is today affecting people’s food security and nutrition, in all corners of the globe. 

The figures and trends highlighted in the report indicate that global hunger and food insecurity are on the rise. It states that 815 million people in the world suffered hunger in 2016, marking the first increase in hunger rates since the food price crisis of 2007-2008, and is a significant increase from the 777 million who suffered from hunger in 2015. According to the report, this reversal is due to conflict and the effects of climate change in parts of Southeast and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.