Measures for minimizing the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food (A/HRC/55/37 ... - ReliefWeb

Measures for minimizing the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food (A/HRC/55/37) [EN/AR/RU/ZH] - World | ReliefWeb

I. Introduction
In its resolution 50/9, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a report to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-fifth session identifying the necessary measures for minimizing the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food, taking into account the panel discussion and the interactive dialogue held at the fifty-third session of the Council. The present report builds on the 2023 report of the Secretary-General on the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food mandated in the same resolution.
At present, there is capacity to feed the world. However, as a result of climate change, poverty, inequality, conflict and uneven distribution of resources, among other factors, global hunger and malnutrition are rising, and Sustainable Development Goal 2, on ending hunger, remains far from reach. In 2023, more than 333 million people were facing acute levels of food insecurity. This represents an increase of almost 200 million people compared with levels before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. It is projected that almost 600 million people will suffer from food insecurity in 2030. Climate change is one of the leading causes of the unprecedented rise in global hunger. Sudden and slow-onset events, such as heatwaves, salinization, sea-level rise, flooding and droughts, are increasingly having an impact on food systems worldwide. The outcome of the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at its twenty-eighth session, in 2023, includes the recognition of the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change. The interconnectedness of food insecurity and climate change underscores the interdependence of the right to food and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
In the present report, the High Commissioner explores the ways in which socioeconomic systems intersect with climate change and food insecurity and presents five pathways that illustrate how human rights-grounded measures can minimize the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food and how a transformation of food systems can, at the same time, help mitigate climate change.