What Political Framework Is Necessary to Reduce Malnutrition? A Civil Society Perspective

Around 800 million people worldwide are still starving. Around 2 billion are somehow able to allay their hunger yet remain malnourished because their food does not contain sufficient nutrients. There are many reasons for this: for people living in poverty and precarious conditions, the priority is to fill their stomach, and the quality of food seems less important. Since the 1960s, global food production has been focused on increasing yield, not food quality. Mass-produced convenience food with high fat and carbohydrate contents but containing few nutrients is on the rise and - as a result of price wars - often replaces healthier locally grown products. To overcome global hunger and malnutrition, civil society organizations urge governments to turn towards sustainable and human rights-based development, including sustainable agricultural and fishing policies, to contribute to the eradication of poverty. This development is first and foremost guided by the right to food. In a policy that enables farmers to produce enough food that is healthy and rich in nutrients, the following principles should be fulfilled. Governments should assume responsibility for the international impacts of their agricultural policy decisions. The food sovereignty of other countries should be respected. Policies should enable self-supply of the population with healthy food and should promote the protection of resources, the climate, biodiversity and animal welfare. Strengthening rural structures, local economies, labor rights and small-scale food producers, establishing public programs that provide locally produced food, applying stringent standards for food labeling and the regulation of unhealthy products and paying special attention to the first 1,000 days of life as the starting point of a good and healthy well-being are core elements of such a political framework.