Nearly two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, 159 million children under the age of five are chronically malnourished, 50 million are acutely malnourished. Conversely, two billion people are obese. According to the FAO, chronic malnutrition has been declining since the 2000s, unevenly across the world, but climate change could soon reverse the trend and push more than 25 million additional children into undernourishment by 2050.
A primary cause of malnutrition is the gap between nutritional requirements and actual intake. These nutrients are naturally provided by food, whether freshly harvested or processed. According to IPES Food, the industrialised food system promotes the availability of cheap, energy-rich but nutritionally poor processed foods (also known as « empty calories ») and tends to sustain malnutrition.
According to international nutrition organisations (including Action Against Hunger), the most comprehensive and integrated approach to ensuring adequate micronutrient intake is to diversify food production and consumption.
To find out more about the Désertif’actions International Summit, visit desertif-actions.org
