Food insecurity primarily affects the rural poor. Three-quarters of the world’s extreme poor live in the rural areas of developing countries. This marks not only the scope of the problem, but also highlights the territorial divide.

This page highlights the main challenges and outlines a more effective "territorial appraoch" to food security.

800 MILLION PEOPLE GO HUNGRY

• 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and malnutrition, yet there is enough food for everyone.
  
  
• The majority are poor, unemployed, lack formal education and have poor health.
  
  
• Raising the incomes of the poor is one of the main challenges of ensuring food security.
  
  
• Until now, policies have focused on short-term relief and on increasing food production, but with little overall effect.

• Long-term approaches are required which target the underlying socioeconomic conditions.

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS

• Disparities in food security is increasing, both among countries and within countries.
  
  
• Hunger has a clear geographic concentration: low income inner-city neighbourhoods, large metropolitan regions, and remote rural regions.

• National averages typically mask these pockets of poverty and food insecurity.
  
  
• With unprecedented regional disparities within countries - policies must recognise these differences to be effective.
  
  
• Place-based targeted policies can address the causes and possible solutions to hunger and malnutrition.

A TERRITORIAL APPROACH

• Food security & nutrition (FSN) is a global challenge that requires a cross-sectoral, coordinated approach involving stakeholders at local, national, regional and international levels.

• This type of territorial approach allows the diversity of different territories to be taken into account, which is missed in the current one- size-fits-all policy approach.
  
  
• A territorial approach also benefits from urban-rural linkages, to have connected and more effective policies.

FOOD SECURITY POLICIES NEED TO:

• Enhance strategies and programmes beyond agriculture.
  
  
• Promote multi-level governance systems to strengthening horizontal and vertical co-ordination.
  
  
• Increase the availability of data and indicators at the local and regional levels to support evidence-based FSN policy.
  
  
• Link social policies with economic growth policies.

TOGETHER TOWARDS THE NEW URBAN AGENDA  

ADOPTING A TERRITORIAL APPROACH TO FOOD SECURITY

POLICY HIGHLIGHTS