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MARYMOUNT SCHOOL BOGOTÁ
MMUN X
WFP
Presidents:
Maria Jose Daunas - Marymount School
David García - Colegio Tilatá
Topics:
Topic A: The use of Lab-Grown food to decrease world hunger.
Topic B: The psychosocial and biological implications of a child malnutrition.
February 2020
1. Welcoming Letter
Dear delegates,
We are extremely happy to welcome you the tenth edition of the United Nations
Model of the Marymount School, and to the World Food Program (WFP) committee.
In preparation for this version of MMUN, we have carefully prepared this space to
guarantee the perfect experience for you. For us, it is our pleasure to be the chairmen
of this commission. Our expectations of you are nothing but positive, and we cannot
wait to see what your abilities bring to the space we hope provides a learning
experience for you all, not only expanding your intellectual knowledge, but, as well
growing as individuals, as persons that will impact the world. Without any further
comments, we wish you all a great learning period, and we expect that if there is any
question, you let us know, as we are at your disposal at any time.
Remember, even though we simulate this macro experiences, we cannot take away
the humanity out of conflict and the problematics that we face, and as chairmen, we
wish to remind and serve to you as the guiding hand to building a comprehensive and
humanitarian future. We are human, and we all deserve to be treated as such, and
with the topics that we are treating in this MUN, we expect you to understand the
scope and implications of everything we are doing.
Without any other concerns or comments, we wish you nothing but the best, and
cannot wait to observe how your human qualities can contribute to building a better
future.
Best regards,
María José Daunas & David García
2. Introduction to the committee
The World Food Programme (WFP) is a program created by the UN, which works
towards providing food in situations of world hunger and poverty, development of
programs, and also providing sustenance for refugees in desperate situations. The
WFP also works as the leading organization in the development of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) number 2, which refers to zero hunger. SDGs according
to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) they are a total of 17 goals
that meant to do a “universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and
ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030” (UNDP, n.d). In order to
achieve its goal this organization has a vision of Five steps to Zero Hunger which go
as follow: put the furthest behind first, pave the rod from farm to market, reduce food
waste, encourage a sustainable variety of crops and finally make nutrition a priority,
starting with a child's first 1000 days. This organization works in hand with others
such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO to achieve the goals
that the organization itself pursues. This institution, working in hand with many
others, has been the one responsible for creating a safe environment for the
individuals in need.
The WFP committee in order to encourage a more dynamic and realistic environment
will include a special procedure, which is specified and explained on the guide
“Special procedure for the world food programme”
3. Topic A: The use of Lab-Grown food to decrease world hunger.
A. Introduction to the topic
Hunger, is defined as “short-term physical discomfort as a result of chronic food
shortage, or in severe cases, a life-threatening lack of food” (National Research
Council, 2006) and has always been a global concern, and an enormous problematic
that must be solved in order to achieve all the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals)
and by this have a better world by 2030. It can be stated that hunger has coexisted
with humans since the beginning of its civilizations. Therefore, there is no specific
date of when it started. Today's society has as one of its principal interests into
solving world hunger, which refers to “hunger aggregated to the global
level”(National Research Council, 2006). According to The United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 2016 about 815 million people, meaning
10.7% of the human population, were suffering from chronic undernourishment
(2016). Data that exposes how human hunger has been increased since 2015. In
other words, putting in danger the progress towards SDG, more specifically threading
the 2.1 target “By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the
poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and
sufficient food all year round” (United Nations Statistics Division, 2019).
The second goal of SDG, not only refers to ending with the hunger of the world, but
at the same time it wants so ensure food security. That according to the World Food
Summit exists when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to
sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences
for an active and healthy life.” (World Food Summit, 1996). In other words, there are
a total of four dimension that stablis food security. They are explained by the FAO in
the Food Security Information for Action Practical Guides on the forward table:
[Image of Food Security Information for Action Practical Guides] . Recovered from
https://bit.ly/2NV8rg6
Apart from world hunger, today's society has as another defining issue, climate
change. According to the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
article, climate change is a change in the usual weather of an environment, occurring
over time scale of decades or even longer. This could be a change on the rain levels
that a place usually has over a year. Or as well, it could be the change of temperature
for a moth, season or even a year (2017). The UN define climate change as a global
issue since, by casusin the shifting of the weather patterns it threats food production
and the rising of the sea levels increasing the risk of destructive flooding. Some
evidence according to the NASA for rapid climate change are: global temperature
rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, sea levels rising, and acena
acidification among others (n.d).
Nowadays the warming trend is “ particular significance because most of it is
extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human
activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented
over decades to millennia” (IPCC, 2014). This exposed on a more accurate and
precise way on the graph below, based on the comparison of "atmospheric samples
contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that
atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution” (Climate Nasa Gov,
n.d)
This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores
and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has
increased since the Industrial Revolution. (Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge,
D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2
record.)
[Image of Levels of Co2] . Recovered from https://go.nasa.gov/2ps6Dlz
B. Historical Context
Evendough burning coal, oil and gas, deforestation, fertilisers or construction play an
important role in climate change; one of the greatest causes is agriculture, in other
words, the production of meat. This due to the fact that this particular animal, reales
between 70 and 120 kg of Methane per year. This greenhouse gas is similar to CO2,
except that is has moreless 23 times the negative effect of CO2. According to the
FAO “agriculture is responsible for 18% of the total release of greenhouse gases
worldwide”(FAO, 2015). However not only beef meat is problematic, as it is shown
on a study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), in general the
production of common proteins have a greater gas emission than vegetables:
[Image of Full Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Common Proteins and
Vegetables]. Recovered from https://bit.ly/37f4avV
Technology and innovation, are determinant factors on the curse of today's society.
Always trying to create new technology and improve the existing, and one of the
latest development of science is Lab Grown Food, more specifically Lab Grown
Meat, which is a great alternative for the production of meat without the need of
traditional agriculture.
Timeline of lab Grown Meat
1912: Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon and biologists; that produced and
maintained a series of chick heart tissue cultures, at the Rockefeller Institute. They
remained alive for a great period of time, as a result the cells were deemed immortal,
opening the door to cell immortality and cellular aging. The basic tissue culture
techniques used to generate the immortal chick heart tissue were first described in
Carrel’s paper “The Permanent Life of Tissues outside of the Organism,” published
in 1912.
1931: Winston Churchill, was a British statesman, orator, author along with prime
minister. On his “Fifty years hence” article published on 1931, he predicted that in
the future society will use synthetic food more specifically he stated that “We shall
escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by
growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.'' Churchill (1931)
1946: Alexis culture is discarded and by 1960 his initial hypothesis was questioned
as several attempts of scientists to recreate such experiment were not successful.
leading to state that there must have been some experimental error in Carrel's
immortal chiquen heart cultures.
1995: the UU.EE FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the use of in-vitro
techniques for the commercial meat production, opening the path for lab-grown meat
product to reach their way to markets.
1999-2002: Morris Benjaminson a biologist professor at Touro College In New York
worked on improving the suitability of living conditions including food on a Space
Vehicle long term mission. Their purpose, as Benjamin says was to “establish the
feasibility of an in vitro muscle protein production system (MPPS) for the fabrication
of surrogate muscle protein constructs as food products for Space travelers”
Benjaminson (2002). They cultivate the adult dorsal abdominal skeletal muscle mass
of Carassius (Gold fish). An ATCC fish fibroblast cell line was used for tissue
engineering investigations, proving that it was possible to grow meat on a laboratory.
2004: The First Tissue-Engineered Meat Patent Filed. John F Vein secures patent for
“Method for producing tissue engineered meat for consumption”. The US6835390B1
was a failed patent of a non-human tissue engineered meat product and methods for
its production and harvesting.
2005: The article "In vitro-cultured Meat Production" is published in Tissue
Engineering, authored by P.D. Edelman, D.C. McFarland, V.A. Mironov, and New
Harvest founder J.G. Matheny, and it was the first peer-reviewed journal article on
cultured meat that was published.This was the first time that science look consciously
at cultured meat considering modern advances in science.
2008: Evaluation of the economic feasibility of lab grown food. This study was
commissioned and conducted by Professor Stig William Omholt and its aim was to
review whether the production of in vitro meat could be financially viable or not.
2011: an academic study funded by New Harvest titled “Environmental Impacts of
Cultured Meat Production," was accepted to the journal Environmental Science and
Technology. Which stated that lab grown meat has a “78-98% reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions, 99% reduction in land use and 82-96% reduction in water
use, and a 45% reduction in energy use.” Hanna L. Tuomisto and M. Joost Teixeira
de Mattos (2011).
In Comparison of primary energy input, greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, land use, and water use of cultured meat production with
conventionally produced European beef, sheep, pork and poultry per
1000 kg edible meat as a percent of the impacts of the product with the
highest impact in each impact category.
[Image of Comparison of primary energy input, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
land use, and water use of cultured meat production]. Recovered from
https://bit.ly/37gpCAo
2013: Mark Post a Dutch pharmacologist who was professor of Vascular Physiologist
at Maastricht University until 2010 and that is a Professor of Angiogenesis in Tissue
Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology; created the first
cell-cultured hamburger at the University of Maastricht, and it was cooked and tasted
live on air in London.
C. Current situation
In the past few years, new waves of ecological thinking have arrived to the
commercialization realm of the food industry, creating new questionings on where, how,
and why consumables are produced, this with a focus on both ecology, and world hunger.
With the new development of technologies for the production and growing of muscle cells,
later responding to meat consumables for example, many do theorize that this might be the
answer to the world food crisis that is being faced in the time being, but for every hopeful
individual, there is also a skeptic. To begin, it is known that the use of laboratory equipment
for this advanced way of production is reserved to a small amount, on very well equipped,
developed scenarios in which the availability of resources is not scarce. With this, comes the
question, ¿how fast can we be able to mass produce lab grown meat? And ¿how can we
make it available to all? For now, and as reported by Quartz “But we have to be careful
when we talk about amazing food technologies as being a way to help “hunger” or a
“hungry population,” and not just because this burger currently costs $330,000 to produce
and might not be commercially available to consumers for decades.” (Quartz, 2013), we
have to be able to carefully look at what is needed in order to create a truly sustainable and
accessible way of responsibly producing food in these innovative ways. On the other side, it
is also possible to assume that these types of productions may not be made available to the
12.5% of the world population (Maybe even more) that is considered to be in a state of
hunger.
Another modern problematic that has arisen is that the economics of lab grown food might
not be that easy to control. It is clear that, even in developed countries, agriculture is an
important part of their economic income, and has become an irreplaceable staple of
economies around the world, and this new development might be problematic when it
comes to its at-large implementation.
In the last few years, it has become even more clear that the developments that science and
biology have developed are a new way of understanding the production of consumables,
impacting many factors along the way, such as economical, ethical, ecological, and creating
new questions surrounding the path that countries should take. But for now, it is clear that if
this is the path that countries are wanting to take on the development of consumables to
reduce world hunger and achieve sustainability, it is required that investments are made so
that this type of technology is made available to consumers, and the plan to use this type of
meat is correctly implemented into the plans of development of the developing countries
facing hunger-related crisis.
D. International response
Lab grown meat is relatively new in today's society and as it cannot be treated and
manipulated as “normal” meat, many agencies have stipulated a series of agreements in
order to regulate its production commercialization and consumption. In the case of UU.EE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Food and Drug
Administration (FDA); announced a formal agreement on March 07, 2019 to regulate
Cell-Cultured Food Products from Cell Lines of Livestock and Poultry. As it is expressed
on the FDA web page on the Domestic Interagency Agreements on Food the purpose of this
shared regulatory approach is to
“The purpose of this agreement is to describe the intended roles of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration
(“HHS-FDA”) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection
Service (“USDA-FSIS”) (hereinafter individually a “Party”, and together the
“Parties”) with respect to the oversight of human food produced using animal cell
culture technology, derived from cell lines of USDA-amenable species and required
to bear a USDA mark of inspection” (FDA, 2019)
NOTE: for a better understanding of the topic and the regulations that are stipulated on the
agreement, not mandatory to read but very important
FDA. (2019). Formal Agreement Between FDA and USDA. Retrieved 19 December 2019,
from
https://www.fda.gov/food/domestic-interagency-agreements-food/formal-agreement-betwee
n-fda-and-usda-regarding-oversight-human-food-produced-using-animal-cell
On the other hand, another concern of the international community was the lab-grown meat
has been labeled as meat. To begin with, it’s important to mention the petition submitted by
the U.S Cattlemen's Association (USCA) that requested the Department Of Agriculture,
Food Safety and Inspection Services (on the FSIS case No.2018); that there must be
labeling requirements on Lab-grown meat, as it should not be classified as “meat” since it
could confuse consumers. The USCA said on the petition “Beef and meat labeling
requirements: to exclude products not derived directly from animals raised and slaughtered
from the definition of “beef” and “meat”” (USCA, 2018). In the same way, the American
meat science Association, a non-profit association for the advancement of meat science and
technology; pointed out that “Meat scientists do not have enough information about cultured
tissue to determine whether it should be called meat, or how it should be regulated,” (Miller,
2018). This statement was said by Rhonda Miller, a meat scientist at Texas A&M
University in College Station, speaking on behalf of the American Meat Science
Association; she also pointed several unanswered questions based on the concern that
lab-grown meat should not be considered meat, since it has not the same growing and
structural characteristics. Pointing the need for more research in order to specify the
differences between normal meat and the one that was grown on a lab.
Living this aside, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) extended restrictions on
GMO´s (genetically modified organisms) as classifying them as as gene-edited crops. They
state that in the European Union, crops and food created using gene-editing techniques will
be subjected to the stipulated regulations of those governing genetically modified
organisms; in the same way as gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9. Limited by
the European Union, on the research and cultivation. However, there is not a direct
restriction on Lab-grown meat, but the ECJ has a lot a conditions on modifying the normal
course of the life of an organism, so it is pertinent to say that if lab-grown meat get to the
international market it'll will be restricted on the European Union.
Nevertheless, is important to mention the ethical aspects; religions such as Hinduism have
diets of lacto-vegetarianism, meaning they include dairy and animal products, but do not
consume meat. This happens, because cows are thought to be sacred and deeply respected
animals. taking this into account, is pertinent to ask if the Hindus will accept or not the use
of a sacred animal for experiments? This is relevant to the topic since India is one of the
countries that have undernutrition among their population, according to the FAO “194.4
million people are undernourished in India. By this measure 14.5% of the population is
undernourished in India. Also, 51.4% of women in reproductive age between 15 to 49 years
are anemic” (FAO, 2019). So, based on what was stated before, it is extremely relevant to
wonder if clean meat can be a viable solution for hunger on the Republic of India, taking
into account the ethical and sociocultural implications of this?
E. Response of the UN
Even since 2006, the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) has been
creating reports on which they predict the outlook on how Agriculture, consumption, and
production will continue to grow over specific periods of time. Of course, the FAO is an
organization that is tasked with overlooking how agriculture impacts food production and
the scope of development, which limits them on the type of research that they shall do
towards the use of labs, to produce the meat that may be consumed in the future. Although
this limitation exists, the FAO and the UN have been looking into the development on new
sustainable ways of producing consumables.
In the talks about reaching the SDG 2 “Zero Hunger”, the considerations have also been
taken. Being the eradication of world hunger one of the biggest concerns on the list of the
UN and the international community, it is clear that the research has to be put into the
distribution and manufacturing of consumables around the globe. The SDG 2 tackles
various opportunities in creating sustainable ways of diminishing hunger throughout the
world, and the UN has been taking steps toward a development of consumer friendly ways
of producing the edible items that are needed, and in the considerations of this sustainable
goal, the UN has also emphasized on the need of utilizing the scientific tools that have been
newly made available to the world to discover and experiment with.
Apart from all of this, the WFP, another organ of the UN that works towards production,
consumption and problematics around distribution and consumption of food, has been
creating new reports, and specialized plans that help understand the impacts on how
lab-grown consumables may affect countries, development, and the objective of reducing
the impact of hunger in the world and in the most far and developing places. The WFP is
now annually helping the research into the ways malnutrition and food may be affecting the
development of countries and the way that the individuals conduct their lives daily, which
now provides a larger understanding of the problematic at hand, giving the international
community and other actors a big starting point on how to move forward with the diagnostic
of the situation. On their program to support the developing of SDG 2, the WFP also
provide a comprehensive report on the situation, its problem areas, and again provides a
comprehensive diagnosis on the situation that needs addressing, providing a way of fully
understanding how to move forward.
F. Relevant actors
A great number of companies all around the world are trying to incorporate meat made from
cultivate animal cell into the supermarkets. For example Associations like Memphis Meat
from UU.EE has as goal to create a sustainable market of lab grow meat. As it is mentioned
on their web page they want to create “food from the ground up”, “better for you” since it
will be more nutritious and healthier, in other words, better for human health, and finally
“better for the world” since it has a great benefit for animals, and there is a significant
reduction on the use of land, ware and by subsequently less production of wastes the say
“We believe that the planet will be the ultimate beneficiary of our product” (Memphis Meat,
n.d). Companies as Higher Steaks look for a “sustainable future”. Corporations such as
Aleph Farms from Israel aim for a “good food for a healthy world”. Finally, the association
from Netherlands Mosa Meat establishes that their mission is to “produce real meat for the
world’s growing population that is delicious, healthier, better for the environment, and kind
to animals.” (Mosa Meat, n.d).
Equally important, there are many laboratories that work daily on developing new
technology for lab grown meat. This can be seen in Israel in Future Meat Technologies, a
laboratory that immortalizes animal cells without the need of a genetic modification
(GMO-free animal cells) that later will be used to elaborate clan meat; they state on their
web page that is “ sustainable and cost-effective, and due to rapid growth cycles, it allows
producers to rapidly adapt to changing market demands” (Future Meat, n.d). In the same
way the University of Bath is leading in the UK´s the development of lab-grown meat,
which they say could be on supermarkets within five years. Dr Marine Ellis, Senior Lecturer
in Biochemical Engineering is the UK's leading expert on cultured meat, express on a press
release published on 2019 that
“Our global population is growing, and our current food production methods will not
scale to produce what we need to feed everybody. (..)We need something like an
additional 60 million tons of protein to feed the population by 2050 and we can't do
that like we currently do.” (Ellis, 2019)
Nevertheless, the greatest problem of all pioneers is to reduce the cost of the production, in
order to be a sustainable product according to Future Meat Technologies it should cost less
than $10 USD per pound.
G. QARMAS
○ How is my population affected by widespread hunger?
○ How is my country supporting the development of Lab-Grown food? Does the
government/general population find it ethical or productive?
○ Does my country support in any way the international research on this type of
production?
○ How is my country’s economy based on agriculture? Are they a mostly
agricultural place/economy?
○ What programs does my country have in place to prevent hunger in its
territories?
○ What policies has my country pushed for the development on this technology?
○ Can my country provide any type of help towards the development of this type
of production? How? (Economically? With test territory?)
○ How could the implementation of production like this affect the way food is
distributed and produced in my country?
H. Support Links
○ How is cultured meat (a.k.a. clean meat) made exactly?. (2018). [Video].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG4EO-P93Dk
○ Huget, J. (2019). his Breakthrough in Lab-Grown Meat Could Make it Look
Like Real Flesh[Video]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUuDi_s_Zo
○ Homepage | World Food Programme. Retrieved 17 November 2019, from
https://www.wfp.org
○ In Vitro-Cultured Meat Production. (2005). Retrieved 17 November 2019,
from https://www.hedweb.com/animimag/invitro-culturedmeat.pdf
○ William Omholt, S. (2008). The In Vitro Meat Consortium Preliminary
Economics Study Project 29071. Retrieved 17 November 2019, from
https://files.givewell.org/files/labs/animal-product-replacements/invitro-meat-
economics-study-v5-march-08.pdf
○ L. Tuomisto, H., & Teixeira de Matto, M. (2011). Environmental Impacts of
Cultured Meat Production. Retrieved 6 October 2019, from
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es200130u
○ Datar, I., & Luining, D. (2015). Mark Post's Cultured Beef. Retrieved 17
November 2019, from https://www.new-harvest.org/mark_post_cultured_beef
4. Topic B: The psychosocial and biological implications of a child malnutrition.
A. Introduction to the topic
Child malnutrition has been a worsening problematic for the world as the process of
globalization and development has been growing exponentially in the past few years. Child
malnutrition implies a constant state of hunger during one’s childhood, with it bringing
developmental problems and sometimes even causing death. With this, the problematic gets
even worse, as not only the child’s development is affected, but, as is their life after the
problematic is addressed. What we look at when we revise the topic of child malnutrition is
not only how to address it, but how to mitigate the effects felt after a child is treated. What
happens after a child is treated? Well even though their development might be irreversibly
damaged, how they grow and how they perform certain functions, their ability to be able to
process certain information, how they relate, and overall how their brain works is also
affected. Biologically, their brains, their functions, their livelihood is put at risk while the
child is not fed correctly, and it is important to be able to look at the different ways children
are affected under this umbrella.
In the psychosocial part of their development, it is clear that many of the children have
various difficulties on their brain development and how this manifest in their lives.
Psychologically, children that are malnourished are at a higher risk of experiencing mental
illnesses, but also, they are put under stress and various other situations that affect their
growth and daily life. Children that are malnourished are also believed to have lower school
achievement, poor mental development, and overall behavioral abnormalities. This goes to
show that the only problem that children face with malnutrition is not only physical, but also
goes further into their development and their future livelihood.
It is important that moving forward, looking into these types of effects after the fact, we are
able to design a plan on how to mitigate the effects that the cases of malnutrition have on
the children that experience it. It is fully the responsibility of the commission to look into
these problematics, study them and then design a comprehensive plan into how the countries
should move forward to address the problematic fully.
B. Historical Context
The right to food Timeline:
❏ 1948: Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), stipulated on the article 25 that says that everyone has the
right to “a standard of living adequate for health (..) including food”
(UDHR, 1948)
❏ 1947: Adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of
Hunger and Malnutrition, were it acknowledges that the final purpose
of all nations is to eradicate hunger and malnutrition
❏ 1976: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural right
(ICESCR) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966. The
article 11 of the Covenant recognizes
“The right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for
himself and his family, including adequate food (..) recognizing
the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger (..) To
improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of
food (..) equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation
to need.” (ICESCR, 1976)
❏ 1981: Entry into force of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Were it expresses
the concern of poverty women that have less access to food, to health
services and education (1981).
❏ 1990: Entry into force of the Convention on the Right of the Child
(CRC), in which it specifies on the article 27 that goes as follows: “
States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living
adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social
development” (CRC, 1990). Including the need for proper daily diet in
order to accomplish the biological and sociological needs of the infant.
❏ 1996: Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food
Summit Plan of Action, at the last part of the World Food Summit,
nations reaffirm “the right of everyone to have access to safe and
nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the
fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger"
❏ 2000: Establishment of a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, it
specifies the human right to food, the obligations of the states and the
implementation of the mandate by the Special Rapporteur (by the
resolution 2000/10).
❏ 2000: Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger, with a deadline of 2015
[Image of Goal 1]. Recovered from https://bit.ly/2Xmfdih
❏ 2002: Adoption of the Declaration of the World Food Summit: five
years later, where it reaffirms by the nation the “right of everyone to
have access to safe and nutritious food” (Declaration of the World
Food Summit: five years later, 2002)
❏ 2008: Entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD), that states on the article 28 (adequate standard of
living social protection) that ” States Parties recognize the right of
persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for
themselves and their families, including adequate food” (CRPD, 2008)
❏ 2008: of the UN High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis,
with the primary aim of
“promoting a comprehensive and unified response to the
challenge of achieving global food security, the HLTF produces
the Comprehensive Framework (..)setting out a twin-track
approach consisting of activities related to meeting the
immediate needs and activities related to the longer-term
structural needs, thus enabling people to realize their right to
food.” (FAO, 2016)
❏ 2009: the reform of the Committee on World Food Security, it
reinforces the creation of an intergovernmental and international
platform, in order to arrange manner in the support of the “processes
towards the elimination of hunger and ensuring food security and
nutrition for all human beings” (Agriculture and Economic
Development Analysis Division, 2010)
❏ 2009: Adoption of the Declaration of the World Summit on Food
Security
❏ 2012: The Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition
is adapted; it is a document which final purpose according to the FAO
is the improvement and coordination on the action to accomplish the
right to adequate food (2016)
❏ 2013: Entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR), it as
it is expressed on the FAO web page it “provides the CESCR with
additional capacities for the international justiciability of the rights
guaranteed in the Covenant.” (OP-ICESCR, 2013). The CESCR is able
to gather information from groups or individuals, of victims that claim
a “violation of any of their economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to adequate food” (OP-ICESCR, 2013).
❏ 2014: Approbation of the Principles for Responsible Investment in
Agriculture and Food Systems, once they are accepted they have as
principal aim as it is communicated on the document is to cooperate
with the responsible investment in agriculture and food systems, in
order to contribute to the food security and nutrition (2014)
❏ 2015: Acceptance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
[Image of SDG]. Recovered
from https://bit.ly/32XI3GG
Timeline adapted from
http://www.fao.org/right-to-food-timeline/global-milestones/en/#10
Child malnutrition is a relevant topic open for debate on today’s society that must solve in
order to achieve the SDG 3 “good health and well-being”, by the treatment and prevention
of malnutrition for health and productive lives. As well as eradicate hunger, SDG 2. This is
crucial since according to the UNICEF nearly 50% of all deaths in children under the age of
5 is attributed to undernutrition, since it places children on garter risk of dying from
infection (2019).
Number (millions) of children under 5 who are stunted, by region, 2000 and 2018
Notes: * The Eastern Europe and Central Asia sub-region estimates do not include Russian
Federation due to missing data; consecutive low population coverage for the 2018 estimate
(interpret with caution).**The Northern America regional average is based on United States
data only, hence confidence intervals are not available. The percentage change since 2000 is
only shown where the change is statistically significant.
Source: UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates, March 2019
edition.
[Image of children under 5 who are stunted 2000-2018]. Recovered from
https://bit.ly/2r2TEHc
C. Current situation
Based on the 2018 report on Nutrition done by the World Health Organization, we are able
to look at how the situation is in the present time.
Looking at the various conclusions given by the report, we know one certain thing the
burden that we are carrying with malnutrition is unbelievably high.
The 2018 report tells that there are various things that need to be looked at, from the
economic to the humanitarian and biological. Firstly, we are able to tell that the strategies
being put in place are very responsive towards the problematics that we face. Programs like
the one put in place taxing sugar filled drinks have been effective in eradicating the
problematics of obesity and other food related problematics. This report also has new
information on what people eat, why and how, to be able to use this information to move
forward.
Things we do know now after being able to review the conduct of the countries and their
populations regarding food consumption are;
● Countries need to act with certain policies such as;
○ Diversifying and scaling upwards the funding of nutrition
programs
○ Creating programs able to tackle healthy diets and nutrition
○ Prioritizing the funding and research the key areas of effect in
which they should act towards ending malnutrition and
malnourishment
● These countries need to get back on track with achieving the objectives
set for them regarding nutrition
Apart from this, we are able to overlook the 3 different areas that are in need of tackling
immediately, as these are the key areas in which countries can start to work in to address
malnutrition in an efficient way:
● Micronutrient deficiencies: their investigation, their effects, and how
they impact the growth and development of children
● Conflict and violence: How do they affect the way populations eat?
How can societal factors affect the way populations tackle nutrition and
the way grow food and feed their children?
● Child and Adolescent nutrition: Tackling youth nutrition is the space
where most countries facing this burden lack development. Countries
normally do not consider these factors in their development plans, and
starting with these points becomes important when looking into
development of children and their cognitive functions
We know that around 88% of countries experience some form of malnutrition, and that
around 29% of them experience all forms of malnutrition with high levels of them. Millions
of children around the globe are experiencing some form of malnourishment, and we are
now on track to understanding the way malnourishment affects children from all
environments and scenarios, and how we can tackle their problematics and the whole
problem at large.
D. International response
The government of each affected nation are working continuously in order to eradicate the
problematic of malnutrition. This can be seen in India were the government has accorded
high priority to the issue, by the implementation of diverse programs of different Ministries/
Departments, that aim to improve the current situation. On an article of the Ministry of
Women & Child Development it specifies echa target group, pregnant and lactating
mothers, Children (0-3 years) and (3-6 years), school going children (6-14 years),
adolescents girls (11-18 years) and last adults and communities; where they specify the
scheme and the mayor services from schemes.
Leaving this a side is important to mention the organization Save the Children, that as it is
mentioned on their web page they work in order to improve the lives of infants around the
world “We work to ensure children have healthcare, food and shelter, as well as learning
and child protection services when children need it most.” (Save the Children, n.d).
Working on more than 120 countries, like Bangladesh or Colombia, in order to ensure a
high quality of life for children.
E. Response of the UN
The UN, through organizations like the World Health Organization and the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization, have made recommendations towards policies that have
to be implemented. The UN as the biggest Intergovernmental Organization is the biggest
pushing force towards solving and alleviating the problematic and child malnourishment,
and through their work on the SDG number 2, “Zero Hunger”, they work in the lines of
providing resources of investigation and availability of food towards those affected by
malnourishment and malnutrition.
The UN after the year 2000 has been paying close attention to the effects caused by the
malnourishment of children around the world, providing humanitarian help in various
territories around the globe and making food available to those in need. Be it to those in
crisis or those that are affected by malnourishment in their daily life, the UN has tried with
their efforts to mitigate the effects of malnutrition in all levels and the various levels of
severity. In the end, the UNs efforts to be able to provide food and resources have been
resonant and paramount in being able to provide the biggest help to those in these situations.
The UN now continues to work in humanitarian missions and normal aid to mitigate the
effects of malnourishment in developing countries, helping them and giving them a stepping
stone in which they may provide full understanding and reach toward the 9 goals of
nutrition around the world.
F. QARMAS
● How has my country provided data for the investigation of
malnourishment?
● How is my country financing programs of diet and nutrition?
● How is the problematic of malnourishment affecting my population?
● Have there been massive deaths due to malnourishment in my country?
● How are children managed when a case of malnutrition is detected?
● Has my country pledged to abide by the recommendations of the UN
and the GNR?
● How has my country been financing the programs that are led?
● Is my country working with NGOs to be able to reach the 9 nutrition
goals?
G. Support Links
○ Homepage | World Food Programme. Retrieved 18 November 2019, from
https://www.wfp.org
○ Nutrition country profiles: Bangladesh summary. Retrieved 18 November
2019, from http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/bgd_en.stm
○ The government's effort to fight malnutrition. Retrieved 18 November 2019,
from
https://motherchildnutrition.org/resources/pdf/mcn-the-governments-efforts-to
-fight-malnutrition.pdf
○ Global milestones | The Right to Food Timeline | Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 18 November 2019, from
http://www.fao.org/right-to-food-timeline/global-milestones/en/#10
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