The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognise the right to food as part of the right to an adequate standard of living,

–  having regard to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union,

–  having regard to Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which reaffirms that the Union must take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries,

–  having regard to Article 214 TFEU, which lays out the principles and objectives for EU humanitarian aid operations,

–  having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, amending and repealing Decision No 466/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU) 2017/1601 and Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 480/2009(1),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid(2),

–  having regard to the Commission communications of 31 March 2010 on humanitarian food assistance (COM(2010)0126) and an EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges (COM(2010)0127),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 3 October 2012 entitled ‘The EU approach to resilience: learning from food security crises’ (COM(2012)0586),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 12 March 2013 entitled ‘Enhancing Maternal and Child Nutrition in External Assistance: an EU Policy Framework’ (COM(2013)0141),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 10 March 2021 on ‘the EU humanitarian action, new challenges and same principles’ (COM(2021)0110), which envisages inter alia key actions to strengthen the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to better link urgent relief and longer-term solutions and the European Parliament resolution of 15 December 2021 on new orientations for the EU’s humanitarian action(3),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 23 March 2022 entitled ‘Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems’ (COM(2022)0133),

–  having regard to the EU Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in External Action 2021–2025 (GAP III) and the European Parliament’s Resolution on it(4),

–  having regard to the Commission action plan on nutrition of 3 July 2014 aimed at reducing the number of stunted children under five by 7 million by 2025 (SWD(2014)0234) and the sixth progress report of 12 August 2021 thereon (SWD(2021)0229),

–  having regard to its resolutions on food security and nutrition, in particular those of 27 November 2014 on child undernutrition and malnutrition in developing countries(5), of 7 June 2016 on the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition(6) and of 5 October 2016 on the next steps towards attaining global goals and EU commitments on nutrition and food security in the world(7),

–  having regard to its resolution of 24 March 2022 on the need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine(8),

–  having regard to the Council Conclusions on Food and Nutrition Security in external assistance of 28 May 2013,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions of 26 November 2018 on strengthening global food and nutrition security, of 25 November 2019 on the Fourth Progress Report on the Action Plan on Nutrition, of 20 May 2021 on the EU’s priorities for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, and of 14 June 2021 on strengthening Team Europe’s commitment to human development, and of 19 November 2021 on Water in External Action,

–  having regard to the Joint Statement by the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, Parliament and the Commission on the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid of 2008(9) and having regard to the 2017 European Consensus on Development,

–  having regard to the six global targets set by the World Health Assembly in 2012 for maternal, infant and young children nutrition by 2025, namely (i) a 40 % reduction in the number of children under five who are stunted, (ii) a 50 % reduction of anaemia in women of reproductive age, (iii) a 30 % reduction in low birth weight, (iv) no increase in childhood overweight, (v) an increase in the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of at least 50 % and (vi) a reduction in childhood wasting to less than 5 %,

–  having regard to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Reports, the Global Report on Food Crises and the Global Nutrition Report, including the 2021 editions thereof, the Right to Food Guidelines of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition of the FAO Committee on World Food Security, the 10 elements of agroecology, guiding the transition to sustainable food and agricultural system (FAO), and the 2014 Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises,

–  having regard to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)(10),

–  having regard to the sustainable fisheries partnership agreements between the EU and third countries,

–  having regard to the Global Network Against Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian and development actors working through shared analysis and knowledge for strengthened coordination across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus,

–  having regard to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) of 13 September 2007 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas of 28 September 2018,

–  having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 25 September 2015 entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’,

–  having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 1 April 2016 entitled ‘United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025)’, which aims to trigger intensified action to end hunger and eradicate malnutrition worldwide and ensure universal access to healthier and more sustainable diets for all people, whoever they are and wherever they live,

–  having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the closely connected and integrated nature thereof, in particular SDG 1 to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, SDG 2 to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, SDG 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, SDG 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, SDG 6 to ensure access to water and sanitation for all, SDG 10 to reduce inequality within and among countries, SDG 12 to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, SDG 13 to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts and SDG17 to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development,

–  having regard to the 2018 United Nations Security Council resolution 2417 condemning the starving of civilians as a method of warfare as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to civilian populations,

–  having regard to the June 2020 report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)(11), which highlights the link between combating climate change and conserving biodiversity,

–  having regard to the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security (2012) and the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (2015),

–  having regard to the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement and its work to end malnutrition in all its forms through support for government-led initiatives and the priorities of the countries involved, in collaboration with civil society, the UN, donors, businesses and researchers,

–  having regard to the Commission’s EUR 2,5 billion pledge made at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Tokyo in December 2021 to fight malnutrition over the period 2021-2024 and the EU’s ongoing commitment to reducing stunting in children by at least 7 million by 2025,

–  having regard to the G7 Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Crises Compact endorsed at the G7 Summit in Cornwall on 13 June 2021, whereby G7 members committed to fighting hunger and averting famine through joint actions,

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A9-0195/2022),

A.  whereas moderate or severe food insecurity has been increasing slowly since 2014, with almost one in three people – 2,37 billion – having no access to adequate food in 2020(12);

B.  whereas the severity and magnitude of food crises has risen since 2020 as a result of conflict, economic shocks and severe weather extremes, or a combination of these drivers, with close to 193 million people acutely food insecure in 2021 and in need of urgent food assistance, the highest number of acutely food insecure people worldwide recorded in the Global Report on Food Crises’ six-year existence; whereas between 720 and 811 million people are facing hunger and five countries were considered to be at risk of famine, including South Sudan, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nigeria (16 states and Federal Capital Territory) and Yemen(13);

C.  whereas the right to food refers to the dimension of availability, accessibility, adequacy (sufficient quantity and stability of access);

D.  whereas according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life(14);

E.  whereas the illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has further destabilised already fragile agricultural markets and exacerbated the already severe situation caused by COVID-19 and put additional pressure on ongoing food crises and global food security, pushing international food and feed prices well above their already elevated levels; whereas this is likely to increase food insecurity, poverty, social unrest and instability in many developing countries that are highly dependent on Ukrainian and Russian wheat imports as forty percent of wheat and corn exports from Ukraine go to the Middle East and Africa;

F.  whereas, according to FAO, nearly 50 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for at least 30 percent of their wheat import needs and of these, 26 countries source over 50 percent on their wheat imports from both countries; whereas the World Food Programme was buying nearly half of its global wheat supplies from Ukraine and has pointed out that current food crises in countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen will be the most affected;

G.  whereas both Ukraine and Russia are net exporters of agricultural products, and they both play leading supply roles in global markets of foodstuffs and fertilisers, where exportable supplies are often concentrated in a handful of countries; whereas this concentration could expose these markets to increased vulnerability and volatility; whereas Russia is a leading exporter of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and its components, and Belarus is a significant exporter of potash-based fertilisers; whereas nitrogen fertiliser prices are heavily dependent on natural gas prices, a product for which Russia holds major market positions; whereas many of the developing countries, already prior to the conflict, had been grappling with the negative effects of high international food and fertilizer prices;

H.  whereas the FAO Food Price Index which tracks the international prices of food and feed items has risen to a new all-time high and additional price hikes and food inflation are likely well above their already elevated levels;

I.  whereas according to the FAO, Food Price Index hit high record in February 2022; whereas it states that factors behind food inflation are not limited to crop conditions and export availabilities, but a much bigger push for food price inflation comes from outside food production, particularly the energy, fertilizer and feed sectors;

J.  whereas Africa has the highest prevalence of food insecurity with 60 percent of the population of Africa (799 million people) affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2020(15);

K.  whereas the European Union should pay particular attention to countries facing famine, aggravated by natural disasters, like Madagascar, which was recently hit by violent cyclones and where two out of every five inhabitants are affected by acute food insecurity, especially in the Great South region, where more than 300 000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition;

L.  whereas many small scale farmers in developing countries cannot access healthy, nutritious and sustainable diets given remote locations, low income, and a lack of access to sources of diverse foods; whereas evidence shows that investments in the smallholder sector and regional structures yield the best returns in terms of poverty reduction and growth, consequently highlighting the need to focus the efforts on enhancing incomes of smallholder farmers, and especially women smallholders, and to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities;

M.  whereas healthy diets were unaffordable for around 3 billion people in the world in 2020 and whereas obesity is increasing sharply in all regions(16);

N.  whereas malnutrition is an abnormal physiological condition caused by undernutrition as well as overweight and obesity; whereas the health of women and girls is closely linked to the physical and mental health as well as the nutritional status of their future children; whereas undernutrition among pregnant women and mothers increases the risk of complication during pregnancy, maternal mortality and child undernutrition and mortality; whereas an unacceptably large number of children are still affected by malnutrition: of all children under five, 22 % are stunted due to chronic malnutrition, 6,7 % are affected by wasting – a form of acute malnutrition –and 5,7 % are overweight(17) and the actual stunting and wasting figures are expected to be higher due to the effects of the pandemic;

O.  whereas ensuring safe and secure access to water is closely linked to improving food security and nutrition; whereas water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population with more than 2 billion people not having direct and secure access to safe drinking water worldwide according to the latest United Nations World Report on the Development of Water Resources (2021);

P.  whereas the survival of more than 10 % of the global population depends on fisheries and aquaculture(18), and whereas, according to the UN, more than 3 billion people depend on the oceans for their main sources of protein primarily from fish and seafood; whereas small-scale fisheries account for more than 90 % of the world’s capture fishers and fish workers;

Q.  whereas health systems that are not very resilient and strong are being challenged by the regular emergence of epidemics, particularly in their ability to ensure continuity of the most basic care; whereas over the past two years, health system resources have been diverted from a range of nutritionally important functions and essential health services related to undernutrition — including antenatal care, micronutrient supplementation, and prevention and treatment of childhood diarrhoea, infections and acute malnutrition — toward combating COVID-19 and whereas treatment and preventive services for undernutrition remain insufficiently integrated into the essential care packages of national health systems, and equitable access to care services remains insufficient;

R.  whereas chronic poverty, high and persistent levels of inequality and unsustainable food systems together with more frequent natural disasters, linked to climate change in particular, are the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition;

S.  whereas according to the Sixth IPCC Report of 2022 climate change, including increases in frequency and intensity of extremes, reduces food and water security, decreases crop yields, modifies pastures and transhumance paths, and decreases the nutritional value of food, thereby hindering efforts to meet the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals;

T.  whereas climate change further exposes women to risks and vulnerabilities; whereas climate change exacerbates existing challenges, like a sudden loss of food production and access to food, and underlying vulnerabilities, including worsening poverty and food insecurity, forcing communities to face compounding crises; whereas a decreased diet diversity has increased malnutrition in many communities as a consequence, especially for indigenous peoples, small-scale farmers and low-income households, with children, elderly people and pregnant women particularly concerned;

U.  whereas FAO estimates that about 75 % of plant genetic diversity has been lost worldwide; whereas wide-scale genetic erosion increases our vulnerability to climate change and to the appearance of new pests and diseases;

V.  whereas biodiversity and its associated services – pollination, predators of pests, increased resilience of agroecosystems to erosion, droughts and flooding, soil formation and carbon sinking – are essential to provide sustainable food production;

W.  whereas building the resilience of biodiversity and supporting ecosystem integrity can maintain benefits for people, including livelihoods, human health and well-being and the provision of food;

X.  whereas the number of people in need of urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance is on the rise(19); whereas the major drivers of food and nutrition insecurity and malnutrition, which are deteriorating, are conflict, climate change and weather extremes, environmental degradation, rising energy prices, limited access to water, economic shocks, chronic poverty and high and persistent levels of inequality, including gender inequality, lack of access to basic social and health services, global population growth, and failed governance, which consequently can lead to the need to migrate;

Y.  whereas conflicts disrupt the access to food and to basic social services, which affect stable health, including nutrition services, water, sanitation and hygiene and damage natural resources, infrastructure, production means and livestock; whereas food insecurity can be a source of conflict among affected communities, hence exacerbating existing challenges and tensions linked to scarcity of resources;

Z.  whereas COVID-19 has led to the disruption of value chains from production and transportation, to storage and the sale of food, and restrictions on movement have reduced access to markets for farmers and consumers, further inhibiting equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for all and exposing the non-resilience of import-based food systems and the importance of sustainable agri-food systems;

AA.  whereas COVID-19 has led to an increase in poverty in the absence of universal social protection floors; whereas restrictions have impacted daily economic activities that many households depend on, leading to difficulties in accessing healthy and nutritious food, or covering health needs; whereas access to quality health care is in many developing countries extremely limited especially for the most vulnerable and marginalised people;

AB.  whereas inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable food systems are crucial to achieving the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in global food systems, exacerbating inequalities and threatening the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable; whereas the UN Decade for Action calls for accelerating game changing solutions to address global challenges for people and the planet, from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap;

AC.  whereas nutrition is an important issue underlying and driving the achievement of at least 12 of the 17 SDGs and is inextricably linked to other key sustainable development issues, either because it depends on them (i.e. water, sanitation and hygiene, and agriculture), because it enables them (i.e. health, employment), or because it does both (i.e. gender equality, and education);

AD.  whereas the 1994 Marrakech Agreement and in particular the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture have contributed to the specialisation of agricultural regions; whereas this specialisation has led to regions with high levels of exports and others that are almost fully dependent on imports: whereas this situation is not resilient to crises, such as wars, and is one of the factors contributing to the current global food instability;

AE.  whereas a high dependency on food imports highly exposes populations to global market volatilities, especially the persons who spend an important share of their income on daily food needs;

AF.  whereas instability of international markets leads to food insecurity in countries that lack strong agricultural policies, as periods of low prices have a negative impact on production capacities and lead to a rise in imports, which makes urban populations vulnerable when global prices are surging;

AG.  whereas agricultural policies are the primary macroeconomic policies and, due to a lack of protection against the extreme volatility of global prices, the damage caused by inflation is devastating for emerging economies;

AH.  whereas food sovereignty is the right of people and countries to define their own agricultural and food policies; whereas this concept aims at enabling each country to feed its own population and to be self-sufficient and autonomous; whereas the Farm to Fork Strategy’s intention to reduce farmers’ dependency on external outputs is in line with this definition;

AI.  whereas the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy adopt holistic approaches on agriculture not only to preventing a climatic and biodiversity crisis in Europe, but also to ensuring food security, improving nutrition and public health; whereas it shall serve as a template for investments in the remit of development finance, with the view to harness resilience and food self-sufficiency of developing countries;

AJ.  whereas the Farm to Fork Strategy aims to reduce the use of farm inputs and notably to decrease the overall use of chemical pesticides by 50 %, of the most hazardous pesticides by 50 %, and of fertilisers by at least 20 % by 2030;

AK.  whereas nutrition is an important investment as good nutrition during the first thousand days of a child’s life is critical to achieving full physical, intellectual and human potential; whereas hunger and malnutrition negatively affect children’s abilities to learn and influence them to drop out of school, represent a lifelong burden for individuals and societies and have an adverse impact on human and national economic development; whereas good nutrition is therefore the cornerstone of prosperity for societies;

AL.  whereas at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures left 370 million children without access to a secured school meal, often their only warm dish a day, whereas school meals programmes are an important element to combat child hunger and multiple forms of malnutrition; whereas, on the other side, food insecurity disrupts societal functioning, including the ability for families to send their children to school and by adding stress on families, it can be a driver of domestic and gender-based violence; whereas for every dollar invested in nutrition interventions, 16 dollars can be generated in returns;

AM.  whereas as in other areas of humanitarian and development aid, growing needs are not matched by adequate resources, leading to a rapidly increasing funding gap, which requires smarter and more systemic approaches, a systemic transformation in the direction of socially just food systems as our current food systems exacerbate socio-economic and gender inequalities that are preventing access to a healthy, fair and sustainable nutrition;

AN.  whereas women play key roles in feeding the world as farmers, caregivers and producers – they produce 60-80 % of food in developing countries – but have unequal access to food and to the resources, services and assets that increase their yields and incomes; whereas women assume 75 % of unpaid care and domestic work, and women in rural communities and low-income countries spend up to 14 hours a day on care work;

AO.  whereas gender inequality influences the distribution of labour and leading to a disproportionate and unpaid care burden on women and girls;

AP.  whereas it is necessary to ensure the protection of women’s and girls’ rights at all levels and provide space for them in decision-making processes; whereas women and girls are most impacted by climate change and disasters, leading to increased vulnerability due to compounding risks;

AQ.  whereas gender inequalities have a direct impact on nutrition, shaping food dynamics in the household and community in ways that affect women’s and girls’ production of, access to, ability to afford and provide food, care, and health and sanitation services for themselves; and may put them at risk of increased GBV and intimate partner violence;

AR.  whereas closing the gender gap among women and men farmers could increase agricultural output by 2,5 to 4 % in the poorest regions and decrease global hunger by 17 %;

AS.  whereas women constitute 43 % of the agricultural labour force in partner countries, with this percentage rising to 50 % or more in some countries of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, women only represent less than 20 % of agricultural landholders;

AT.  whereas there are 608 million family farms around the world, occupying between 70 and 80 percent of the world's farmland, representing over 90 per cent of all farms globally, and producing around 80 percent of the world's food in value terms;

AU.  whereas one third of the food produced globally is either lost or wasted; whereas increased efforts to reduce food loss and waste by implementing the circular economy in agricultural production systems to increase the sustainability and resource-efficiency of agricultural production are key to addressing food insecurity, malnutrition and protecting biodiversity worldwide;

AV.  whereas addressing food and nutrition security requires not only more funding but also decisive political focus and efforts;

AW.  whereas a number of innovative projects have been set up by some third countries, such as the African ‘Great Green Wall’ initiative, which promotes agro-ecological projects;

AX.  whereas the Committee on World Food Security is the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all stakeholders to cooperate towards the common goal of ensuring food security and nutrition for all;

AY.  whereas on 20 December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a project through which it declared 2019-2028 as the United Nations Decade of Family Farming;

AZ.  whereas farmers’ rights were established under the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2004, but whereas Intellectual Property rules have often worked in contradiction to them, putting local, traditional and indigenous seed systems at risk;

BA.  whereas an active role of the EU in tackling food insecurity is essential, insofar it provides nearly half of the global official development assistance (ODA);

Food security and nutrition at the heart of the post-COVID-19 recovery

1.  Is alarmed by the fact that we are not on track and that it is highly unlikely to achieve the nutrition targets by 2025 or to eradicate hunger by 2030, which is the ambition by SDG2 "Zero Hunger"; recalls that hunger and food insecurity are again increasing across the world; notes with concern that around 660 million people might continue to face hunger by 2030, also due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic; reminds that bold actions are needed, especially regarding inequalities in accessing food, to accelerate progress towards the objective of Zero Hunger; recalls that the end of malnutrition in all its forms and SDG 2 should be considered as priorities in all policies, with particular attention to people in the most vulnerable situations;

2.  Underlines that food systems have a key role to play in ending poverty and achieving SDG 1, while addressing malnutrition and the coexistence of overnutrition and undernutrition, which will be crucial to meeting health objectives in SDG 3; underlines that it will be impossible to sustainably manage water resources to achieve SDG 6 without agriculture playing a central role and that sustainable fisheries management is fundamental for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and seas and the achievement of SDG 14; recalls consequently, that food systems more broadly must also reflect our commitments on sustainable consumption and production in SDG 12, climate change adaptation and mitigation in SDG 13, and the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems in SDG 15; 

3.  Recalls the critical role of small-scale fisheries in food security and nutrition; stresses that sustainable fisheries partnership agreements must be in line with best available scientific advice and must neither undermine local food security nor threaten small-scale fisheries in non-EU countries by putting them in direct competition with EU vessels; calls for the agreements to be aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and with the EU environmental obligations and Common Fisheries Policy objectives by increasing sectoral support and sustainability provisions on surpluses, discards and the precautionary approach;

4.  Underlines that the COVID-19 pandemic with the ensuing economic crisis and closure of borders and the current conflict in Ukraine exposed the vulnerabilities of the global food system; stresses and reminds the European Commission and Member States of the importance of creating stronger links between short, medium and long-term policies to ensure the inclusivity of the COVID-19 recovery plans while also paying special attention to the most vulnerable groups, such as children, youth, women, elderly, and indigenous peoples;

5.  Urges the EU to safeguard the right to food of developing countries and self-sufficiency, as a means of achieving nutritional security, poverty reduction and inclusive, sustainable and fair global supply chains and more sustainable food systems; as well as supporting local and regional markets, devoting particular attention to women and family farming, with the aim of securing the supply of affordable and accessible food and stronger social safety nets to ensure that the most vulnerable continue to have access to food even in emergency or crisis situations;

6.  Recalls that Ukraine and Russia are important players on the global food export market; consequently, for a number of countries with high levels of hunger Ukraine and Russia have an outsized impact, as they import a significant share of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia;

7.  Underlines that governments should avoid in this context export bans and identify measures to support the restructuring of agricultural markets and their regulation by increasing their transparency and establishing new rules to prevent excessive financial speculation from fuelling food price volatility, which especially in a context of war, can artificially inflate wholesale prices and lead to market volatility and particularly affect developing countries and the most vulnerable populations;

8.  Strongly deplores financial speculation on agricultural and food commodities, and calls on the Commission to urgently put forward proposals to end this speculation especially in the context of war, to ensure market and agricultural production stability; recalls in this regard that the structural instability of the international agricultural markets poses a threat to global food security and to political stability in many developing countries; calls on the Commission and the Member states to support international rules aiming to stop financial speculation of agricultural and food commodities and speculative practices;

9.  Recalls that the right to food is a human right; calls for comprehensive and strong EU actions to accompany the full and progressive realization of this right as a means of achieving food security for all; is very concerned about the sharp increase in food insecurity in the last few years;

10.  Highlights that the energy crisis and adverse climatic events prior to the war in Ukraine have led to a surge of agricultural commodities prices in the global market and calls in this context for increased and more efficient food assistance in an effort to better link urgent relief and longer-term solutions; in particular, calls on the European Commission and EU Member States to increase their contributions to the World Food Programme and for actions aimed at the transformation of our food systems through the support for diversity and quality of agricultural production and processing in partner countries and measures to tackle structural poverty and persisting inequalities as underlying causes of food insecurity;

11.  Notes with concern that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will have massive impacts in the broader sense that will further exacerbate the existing food insecurity and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; notes with even greater concern that Ukraine is a key producer of basic foodstuffs such as wheat, maize and vegetable oils; calls on the Commission to develop far-reaching measures for food security and to implement these in the short, medium and long term; recalls that the EU must ensure that the right to food for all is not a market commodity; recalls that famines are some of the potential consequences that need to be seriously considered as outcomes of the war if global leaders do not take countermeasures;

12.  Underlines that the Ukraine war shows how much low-income countries depend on the world market for their basic food supplies, basing their food security on a handful of grain exporting countries which makes these countries extra vulnerable to market disruptions and price increases; recalls that to feed their people, 14 low or lower-middle income countries import more than 50 percent of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, some of whom are already facing famine-like conditions;

13.  Underlines that in order to absorb conflict-induced shocks and remain resilient, countries that depend on food imports from Ukraine and the Russian Federation should diversify the sources of their food supplies by relying on other exporting countries, on existing food stocks or by enhancing the diversity of their domestic production bases;

14.  Calls on the EU and its Member states to immediately cover the funding gap in the 2022 UN Humanitarian appeals for East Africa and the Middle East, because support for these two regions is currently 99 percent underfunded; recalls that the WFP has already had to reduce rations for refugees and other vulnerable populations across East Africa and the Middle East because of a lack of funding, an increase in prices and a reduced offer of commodities on the markets, also due to the war in Ukraine;

15.  Emphasises that ambitiously funded food and nutrition programming should be at the heart of post-pandemic recovery plans;

16.  Urges the EU to prioritise food and sustainable agriculture in its international development programming and to ensure access to funding for local communities and organisations; calls on the EU to invest in measures and interventions in partnerships with developing countries that give access to diverse, affordable, safe, sustainable and sufficiently nutritious foods because investing in food and nutrition is a key element of building human capital as well as competitiveness and achieving the SDGs;

17.  Highlights the need for policies to be country-driven, needs-based and context-appropriate as food systems are very diverse; recalls that priority should be given to local food production through the funding of smallholder farmers, protection of human rights, the reinforcement of family agriculture systems, cooperatives, and regional supply chains;

18.  Points out that smallholder farmers are the main food producers in developing countries, playing a key role in the food security and nutrition of these countries; calls on the EU to specifically support and empower small-scale farming, family farming and cooperatives in its development assistance while also focusing on decent work; stresses that enhancing smallholder agricultural production translates into more food in the global market, leading to lower food prices and better diets;

19.  Recalls that local farming traditions complemented by modern technology can enhance the production of healthy and nutritious food; considers that developing countries should be able to protect their public agricultural policies;

20.  Stresses that local food production and local consumption that support small-scale farming and guarantee fair prices for producers and consumers, reduce countries' dependence on imports and their vulnerability to international price fluctuations;

21.  Highlights that strategic investments in sustainable agriculture practices can play a key role in ensuring more resilient and sustainable agri-food systems; insists that EU investments are inline with Agenda 2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity; welcomes and encourages EU investments in partnership with developing countries in agro-ecology, agroforestry and crop diversification and reiterates that EU-supported investment in agriculture, forestry or fishery or in undertakings that impact soil, grassland, forest, water or sea, needs to be in line inter alia with the FAO/CFS Voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security (VGGTs)and the FAO/CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems; supports European financing for producers and agri-food businesses so that they can make the necessary investments to bring them into line with the requirements of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, by implementing measures to eliminate any potential food security risk;

22.  Stresses that short supply chains hold major potential to address current food system failures and recalls that climate-friendly agriculture entails inter alia reducing dependence on fossil fuel energy, including the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers;

23.  Welcomes all initiatives to implement or strengthen agricultural policies at national or regional level, which aim to ensure greater food self-sufficiency and encourages the transition of developing countries towards more self-sufficiency, giving farmers responsibility, ownership and independence in the creation of sustainable agri-food systems and more self-sufficient production systems; calls for a focus on efforts in the area of agriculture to safeguard developing countries’ right to food security in complement to the right of food sovereignty(20) as well as enhancing their capacity to meet the nutritional requirements of their populations;

24.  Stresses the importance of the protection and promotion of the right of local communities to access and control natural resources such as land and water; deplores the fact that land grabbing is rife in many developing countries; points out that it is a brutal practice that undermines food security and food sovereignty - and endangers rural communities;

25.  Notes that, for example, grazing rights and community pastures are traditional land use rights based on common law and not on securitised property rights; emphasises, however, the fundamental importance of protecting these common rights for rural populations;

26.  Calls for the social tensions between settled agricultural populations and nomadic pastoral communities to be addressed, notably in regions with overlapping ethnoreligious conflicts;

27.  Is deeply concerned about the high dependence of developing countries on food imports, especially from the European Union, particularly when these imports are made up of subsidised products whose low price represents harmful competition for local small-scale agriculture;

28.  Stresses the need to protect the rights of farmers to maintain genetic resources for purposes of food security and climate change adaptation; calls on the Commission, within the remit of its development aid and trade and investment policies, to support farming systems that are in line with the provisions of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which safeguards the rights of peasants to maintain, control, protect and develop their own seeds and traditional knowledge;

29.  Underlines the need to consistently work with countries, international and regional organizations private sector, farmers and smallholders as well as the local civil society and local communities to support the design, implementation and monitoring of context-specific, feasible and robust national nutrition targets; recognises the key role of civil society especially in reaching smallholder farmers by linking them to training, resources, markets and value chains;

30.  Is of the opinion that prioritizing maternal and infant nutrition needs is crucial to guarantee solid and resilient food security and calls on the Commission and Member States to support national authorities in developing countries in integrating nutrition services into health systems in order to address malnutrition in all its forms and ensure the continuity of nutrition services, particularly the early detection and community-based management of acute malnutrition and infant and young child feeding, as well as related maternal nutrition programmes; in this regard welcomes the achievements and work of the SUN movement;

31.  Calls on the EU to protect small-scale producers’ access to and control of land and other resources including farmers’ seeds, access to water as well as access to infrastructure to link rural communities to territorial markets, including urban areas;

32.  Calls on the EU to ensure appropriate financing and co-creation of knowledge and technical innovations through farmer-led research, including support for small-scale producers’ organisations and women’s associations and their collective processing and marketing activities;

33.  Calls on the Commission to establish close links with partner countries for the purpose of exchanging knowledge on agriculture; highlights the expertise of the European agricultural sector and stresses the need to prioritise partnerships in research and innovation in agriculture, including through Horizon Europe, and to boost responsible and ethical innovations to promote sustainable agricultural practices in order to increase yields and farm outputs; calls, in this regard, for a stronger reliance on the contributions of traditional local knowledge in the just transition, especially regarding agricultural practices, fisheries and forest protection, thereby empowering the local people and communities;

34.  Notes the positive results of budget support demonstrated by the 6th Progress report on the Action Plan on Nutrition as a mechanism for sustainable, impactful and country-relevant investment in nutrition;

35.  Calls for the EU to integrate the global and national nutrition targets into the relevant development programmes and country strategies; calls for the EU and its Member States to mobilise long-term financial investments in food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture and to encourage partner countries to invest more in these sectors through their national budgets;

36.  Urges the EU to prioritize food security, biodiversity protection, and sustainable agriculture in its international development programming with partner countries, considering their specific local needs while ensuring access to funding for local communities and organisations supporting them; calls on the EU and its Member States to assess and monitor, with the participation of civil society, its investments to ensure that they concretely fight poverty and food insecurity;

37.  Emphasises the EU’s role as an enabler in the transformation of global food systems so that they can become more resilient, sustainable and fair; underlines that the Farm to Fork strategy is an ambitious EU policy framework that promotes a more sustainable and resilient EU agri-food system and supports a global and just transition to sustainable agri-food systems which benefit people, nature and economic growth and which preserve natural resources in accordance with the biodiversity strategy’s objectives; recalls the Farm to Fork strategy’s intention to reduce farmers’ dependency on external outputs;

38.  Urges the EU and its Member States to remain fully committed to their international engagement on climate and biodiversity, the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy, and to implement accordingly IPCC recommendations to adapt to climate change, especially in a context where the pandemic crisis and the war in Ukraine show the vulnerability of the global food market to disruption;

39.  Urges the Commission to accelerate efforts to support partner countries to reduce the number of stunted children aged under five by 7 million by 2025 as committed to in the EU Action Plan on Nutrition;

40.  Calls on the European Union to continue supporting partner countries in restoring the availability of a diverse and nutritious food for school-aged children through school meals programmes while promoting locally and sustainably produced food and paying special attention to the most vulnerable children; highlights, furthermore, the utility of public procurement programmes in fostering public support for purchasing from smallholders and local producers when sourcing nutritious food for distribution;

41.  Welcomes the European Commission and several Member States' support to the School Meals Coalition in the follow-up of the Food Systems Summit; notes the importance of making sure that nutrition-sensitive approaches are linked to nutrition interventions and other health interventions in developing countries;

42.  Recalls that up to 811 million people in the world are starving and that around 2 billion people are chronically malnourished, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, lacking important vitamins and minerals; recalls that these effects are particularly devastating for children in their first 1 000 days of life because if they lack essential micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron or zinc, these effects last a lifetime causing reduced growth and impaired mental abilities affecting not only individuals, but entire economies; underlines that hunger and malnutrition are therefore among the greatest obstacles to development;

43.  Welcomes the pledge made by the EU at the Nutrition for Growth Summit to invest EUR 2,5 billion over 2021-2024 in the fight against malnutrition; urges the EU to show leadership towards this goal;

44.  Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the interlinkages between our human, plant and animal health, environmental health and food security; points out that diseases that affect animals and plants also continue to disrupt food security by interrupting food supply worldwide; calls on the European Commission and Member States to combine efforts with the international community around the principle of One Health to re-design food systems, improve their resilience and achieve better health and food security for all;

45.  Recalls that research suggests transforming food systems could release back the 12 trillion US-Dollar the world spends on the hidden cost of food and that redirecting some of these funds could prevent further damage to the environment and to the health of people, and it could instead help rally more pledges for adaptation financing as called for by Member States and leaders during the COP 26 in Glasgow;

46.  Recalls that climate change will increasingly put pressure on food production and access, especially in vulnerable regions, undermining food security and nutrition; highlights the conclusions of the IPCC 2022 report according to which global warming will progressively weaken soil health and ecosystem services such as pollination, increase pressure from pests and diseases, and reduce marine animal biomass, undermining food productivity in many regions on land and in the oceans; welcomes its recommendations to adapt to climate change through the promotion of agroecological principles and practices, agroforestry, community-based adaptation, ecosystem-based management in fisheries and aquaculture, and other approaches that work with natural processes to support food security, nutrition, health and well-being;

Building resilience to future shocks

47.  Recalls that resilience-building needs to address the increasing frequency and intensity of conflict and natural disasters, notably droughts, cyclones and floods, as well as health crises, loss of biodiversity, structural inequalities and economic shocks, which often have manifold compounding impacts on the most vulnerable; highlights that strategic investments in sustainable agriculture practices can play a key role in ensuring more resilient and sustainable agri-food systems;

48.  Urges the EU to promote predictable, specific and targeted funding for anticipatory and early action with the objective to prevent food insecurity, reduce its impacts and increase attention to and finance for locally-led adaptation and resilience; calls for EU to strengthen livelihoods programmes to support food security and ensure people’s capacity to generate and maintain their means of living, enhance their own well-being, as well as that of future generations; urges the EU to protect small-scale producers’ access to and control of land and other resources including peasants’ seeds, infrastructure to link rural communities to territorial markets, including urban areas;

49.  Points out that food security has a positive impact on the resilience of the general population and helps people to deal better with shocks, extreme events and protracted crises;

50.  Calls on the Commission to review the existing crisis management plans, in particular with a view to food production;

51.  Stresses that adaptation strategies to climate change should aim to reduce food loss and waste; recalls that LDCs and low-income countries show great potential for food waste reduction through greater investment in storage, packaging and transport infrastructure; emphasises the importance of implementing the circular economy in agricultural production systems to increase their sustainability and resource-efficiency, and to decrease food losses and waste to the greatest extent possible; calls on the European Commission and all Member States to establish and implement food waste prevention programmes that include the promotion of short food supply chains, which lower the risk of generating food waste; highlights the importance of developing and updating a global database, accessible to the competent authorities, that keeps records of supply stocks, particularly cereal stocks, in order to lay the foundations for a system that ensures continuous food security at an appropriate level and minimises food waste;

52.  Underlines that food security depends on achieving climate targets, combating the loss of biodiversity and ensuring healthy land, coastal and marine ecosystems; points out that it is therefore crucial to combat plastic and diffuse pollution;

53.  Stresses that biofuel production has an impact on food security, since it diverts agricultural commodities such as grains, soybeans, rapeseed oil, corn and sugarcane from food production; believes that ensuring more flexible and better coordinated biofuel policies at international level is crucial when it comes to optimising food uses, while benefiting from the stabilising potential of this alternative opportunity; calls on the EU to prioritise food production over crop-based biofuel production, while respecting the waste hierarchy and taking into account the cascading principle in order to secure additional food supplies and stabilise global food commodity markets;

54.  Notes the importance of the strategic linkages between Africa and Europe, building on the progress made in the African Union (AU)-EU rural transformation action agenda; recalls the European Parliament's resolution of 16 September 2020 on EU-African security cooperation in the Sahel region, West Africa and the Horn of Africa that recalled that food insecurity is often a root cause of terrorism and armed conflict; calls therefore for full integration of the humanitarian-development- peace nexus approach in security strategies in third countries which requires supporting the provision of basic services, including food security, with the involvement of local communities;

55.  Recalls that, by 2030, the Great Green Wall initiative in Africa's Sahel region aims to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million jobs in rural areas which together should support 15 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, reduce poverty and hunger, build local resilience to climate change, improve health and well-being, create jobs and boost economic growth;

56.  Invites the EU to expand support for national social protection systems, including cash-based, shock-responsive social assistance to address income inequality in a conflict-sensitive manner and in accordance with the do no harm principle, and to protect food access for the most vulnerable by increasing their purchasing power;

57.  Supports the establishment of a financial facility to help African countries bridge the existing funding gap to urgently develop social protection plans, whether it is through the upcoming Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection or through the creation of a Global Fund on Social Protection;

58.  Underlines the importance of supporting and promoting knowledge sharing and peer learning, such as farmer-to-farmer and business-to-business, in the areas of production, processing and marketing; points out the central importance of the agricultural and food sectors in the economy and in providing decent and sustainable job opportunities in rural areas; underlines that this in most cases concerns smallholdings and family farms; notes the importance of promoting and enhancing measures and tools to support increasing product quality, diversification of products, sustainable modernisation of agricultural practices, safe working conditions and measures to strengthen the resilience of farmers:

59.  Notes that gender inequalities limit agricultural productivity and efficiency and, therefore, undermine development; recalls that women and girls’ empowerment is crucial for nutrition, preserving health, food security and resilience-building; points out that strengthening the role of women and girls remains a challenge for agriculture and for food and nutrition security; calls on the European Commission and Member States to support women's entrepreneurship, employment and political representation, ensure the inclusion of gender perspective in the management of food security and ensure the participation of women in the decision-making process related to this field, including those women belonging to discriminated minorities;

60.  Urges the EU and its Member States to strive, notably through development aid, to help addressing the discriminations women face, notably regarding access of women farmers to land, productive resources and financial services; recalls that in Africa, for example, almost half of agricultural work is done by women, while women farmers are mostly small or subsistence farmers who do not have the necessary access to information, credit, land, resources or technology; encourages the advancement of inheritance rights for women and girls and calls on the EU to support partner countries, particularly regarding their recognition of women’s full entitlement to land rights; urges the European Commission and Member States to promote gender-transformative approaches to agriculture, fishing and food systems through capacity building for rural women, specific policy reforms to have fairer land tenure laws as well as specific initiatives focused on economic empowerment and access to finance, as stated in the Gender Action Plan III;

61.  Notes that rural women produce more than one-half of the world’s food despite structural disadvantages; stresses the urgency to enhance rural women access and control over land, productive resources, assets and markets as a necessary condition to improve food security worldwide; urges the European Union to pay special attention to rural women and their economic, social, and political empowerment; recalls the CFS's Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure Land as a good instrument to tackle barriers in customary and traditional inheritance systems and ensure better knowledge of women of their statutory rights(21);

62.  Recalls the strategic importance of investing in farm-level agricultural biodiversity in order to ensure healthy diets, diet quality and diversification as well as adequate nutrient intake; stresses in particular that women and girls are more likely to achieve a minimally diverse and micronutrient adequate diet through agricultural diversification and subsistence production of diverse food crops(22);

63.  Emphasises the importance of rural transformation and strengthening local, regional and transparent value chains in order to create sustainable jobs, avoid human rights violations and mitigate climate change; stresses the need to support young people and women, in particular through training, access to credit and access to markets; calls for their involvement in formulating agricultural policies and for support for collective action through small producer organisations;

64.  Recalls that, in the face of malnutrition, education and awareness-raising are an essential prerequisite for a sustainable lifestyle and a successful society;

65.  Welcomes the ongoing work of the Committee on World Food Security on its Voluntary Guidelines for Gender Equality and Women's and Girls' Empowerment in the context of food security and nutrition;

66.  Recalls that climate change and biodiversity loss, amongst other factors, threatens our ability to ensure global food security and puts additional pressure on already fragile food systems; calls for environmentally sound food production, such as agro-ecology and climate-resilient adaptation as well as the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems in order to reduce climate risks, face the climate crisis, halt biodiversity loss, thus strengthen the resilience of sustainable agri-food systems; in this regard, asks the Commission and Member States to support partner countries in adopting sustainable agricultural practices and innovative solutions, including the use of revenues raised by ETS auctions and CBAM certificates to enhance their climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation capacities with the aim of having more sustainable food systems;

67.  Asks the Commission and Member states to ensure that financing under the new NDICI instrument includes a human rights-based approach that makes local communities and indigenous peoples central to climate, environmental and development efforts; considers important to pay special attention to smallholder farmers that generally have a lower capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change; welcomes in this regard the upcoming UN action plan to achieve universal coverage of early warning services against extreme weather and climate change in the coming five years that will be presented by the World Meteorological Organization during the UN Climate Conference (COP 27) in Egypt; recalls that the Special Envoy for the UN Food Systems Summit underlined the intersection between climate and food as profound;

68.  Calls on the Commission to provide support for developing countries in order to develop and safeguard their sensitive and infant industries, promote food security, support climate change mitigation for agriculture and meet EU and international sustainability standards for the export of their agricultural products;

69.  Considers that it is important to help developing countries put in place public policies on agriculture and food that can meet the needs of their rapidly growing populations; stresses that a policy on food security must have as its primary goal to provide sufficient, nutritious, safe and affordable food throughout the year for its citizens in a sustainable manner while guaranteeing a fair income and standard of living for farmers; notes that throughout the history of the common agricultural policy lifting export subsidies and decoupling direct payments has significantly reduced the risk of dumping in third-country markets; calls on the Commission and Member States to provide more support to agricultural development capable of ensuring food security in developing countries and to decisively increase its investment in territorial rural development;

70.  Highlights that food systems are important drivers of GHG emissions; notes that building climate resilience for food systems will need the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management into short, medium and long-term policies; calls on the Commission and Member States to accompany developing countries in this process;

71.  Calls on the EU to protect small-scale farmers’ access to and control of land and other resources including seeds, infrastructure and water;

72.  Calls on the EU to ensure public procurement privileging local agroecological production, food safety rules appropriate to small-scale production, protection of domestic markets against low price imports as well as consumer education and social protection to enhance consumption of nutritious local food;

73.  Calls for the EU to tailor its programming under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe to actively support a global transformation to sustainable food systems that can provide affordable healthy and nutritious diets which are fair, resilient, rights-based, environmentally sustainable, put particular attention on women’s needs and reduce the pressure of food production on land and water use;

74.  Underlines that climate change effects have a critical negative impact on food security in developing countries and that adaptation to climate change is essential to ensure resilient sustainable food systems; regrets the breach of the commitment made by developed countries in the 2009 Copenhagen Agreement to provide predictable and adequate funding for climate action in developing countries, especially for adaptation needs, that should have reached 100 billion dollars in 2020; calls on the EU to step up climate funding beyond the framework of the NDICI-Global Europe instrument, including through an ambitious use of the revenue raised by ETS auctions and CBAM certificates;

75.  Urges the Commission to support the agroecological transition in partner countries to secure nutritious, safe, diverse and affordable food for all throughout the year preserving biodiversity, increasing climate resilience and strengthening social cohesion by reducing social inequalities; calls on the Commission to support the development of local food networks to guarantee local production and consumption, which promote local job creation, guarantee fair prices for producers and consumers, reduce countries' dependence on imports and their vulnerability to international price fluctuations;

76.  Stresses that EU investments and interventions should be based on rigorous pre-assessments, full transparency, and inclusion of those stakeholders affected by the investments and interventions, including civil society organisations, in order to devise equitable action and strengthen capacities at a national and local level, including non-state actors; insists in recognizing the need for context-specific measures to achieve more sustainable agriculture and food systems in partner countries;

77.  Calls for the EU action plan on nutrition to be revised to address all forms of malnutrition in humanitarian and development contexts respectively and include new ambitious political and financial commitments;

78.  Notes that 45 million children under the age of five suffer from wasting, defined as low weight-for-height, as a result of acute malnutrition in early life; recalls that overweight and obesity among adults, adolescents and children are rising to record levels affecting 2 billion people globally of which 70 % live in low- and middle-income countries; recalls that overweight and obesity are associated with a risk of diet-related diseases including non-communicable diseases because malnutrition is a challenge for all nations regardless of their development stage; consequently, many countries are now experiencing a ‘double burden’ of at least two types of malnutrition where undernutrition and overweight and obesity coexist; calls on the European Commission to revise the 2010 policy framework for food security and the 2013 policy framework for nutrition, as called for by the EU Member States in the Council’s 2018 conclusions on strengthening global food and nutrition security;

79.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that full account is taken of nutrition whenever the EU invests in agriculture, economic development, climate protection and climate adaptation, health protection, health and other sectors; supports the revision of the 2010 Global Health Strategy and calls for the inclusion of the fight against malnutrition in the revised document; calls for a greater financial support to build strong and resilient health systems to break the intergenerational vicious circle of malnutrition and undernutrition;

A complementary EU humanitarian and development policy response

80.  Insists that humanitarian assistance should be stepped up to countries facing food crises or affected by conflict; notices that the international community, including the European Union, must aim to reduce the growing gap between humanitarian needs and the resources available globally; condemns any actions where access to food is used as a tool of oppression or a weapon of war and recalls the four humanitarian principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence;

81.  Underlines that humanitarian aid can be mobilized to tackle immediate life-threatening situations when existing capacities are overwhelmed, while solutions funded by other types of aid to prevent and address the drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition need to be pursued simultaneously;

82.  Welcomes the celebration of the first European Humanitarian Forum to further enhance the impact of humanitarian response and ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of aid and celebrates the decision to make it an annual event in the humanitarian calendar; underlines the importance of working together as a Team Europe to address the humanitarian global food security crisis;

83.  Calls on the EU Member States governments to diplomatically prevent conflicts, eradicate all forms of malnutrition and to invest more in conflict prevention with a specific focus on women and girls while thoroughly applying the UN Security Council Resolution 1325; recalls that humanitarian aid shall be exempted from international sanctions; underlines the need to find sustainable medium- and long-term solutions in development cooperation to addressing the root causes of food insecurity;

84.  Recalls that Ukraine and Russia account for approximately 30 % of world trade in wheat, 32 % of barley, 17 % of corn and over 50 % of sunflower seed oil and 20 % of sunflower seeds; stresses that the reduction or loss of Ukrainian exports will affect countries heavily reliant on their production, including countries already experiencing food insecurity that are vulnerable to supply shocks and price increases, as in the case of Africa; calls on the Commission and the Member States to urgently evaluate, in coordination with their international partners and relevant international institutions, all the means available to avoid any default in the balance of payments of food importer countries, including direct funding and restructuring of their debt; stresses the importance of prioritising grant-based financing as the default option, especially for least developed countries;

85.  Supports the ongoing realisation of the humanitarian, development and peace-building nexus; highlights that this principle should continue to be included in humanitarian assistance as well as the programming for food security and nutrition backed up by clear guidelines on evidence based best practice;

86.  Welcomes the work of the EU and of the UN Rome-based agencies, namely FAO, WFP and IFAD, to pursue anticipatory action to prevent crises before they hit and protect the most vulnerable groups from climate and human induced disasters; calls for coordination mechanisms with local actors on the ground to be strengthened and to find greater interlinkages between short term anticipatory actions and longer-term government programmes; recalls that inclusive anticipatory action should be context-specific and locally led and ensure that the most vulnerable have also a voice at the decision-making level to address their specific needs;

87.  Supports the EU’s active role in the Global Network Against Food Crises and calls for the network to be operationalised further, especially in regional and national contexts; calls on Member States to strengthen the Global Network Against Food Crises in its work of addressing food crises via multifaceted and multisector interventions, building resilience and knowledge and implementing the humanitarian-development-peace nexus; in this framework, calls on the European Commission and Member States to work with developing countries in the design and implementation of country-led innovative policies and strategies to tackle food insecurity, boost economic inclusion and achieve more sustainable food systems;

88.  Calls on the need to improve early warning systems, early action protocols and surveillance mechanisms to ensure timely responses are triggered early enough to mitigate the impact of hazards on food security and move from reactive to proactive lifesaving interventions through anticipatory humanitarian action; supports the Committee on Food Security as the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental policy platform on food security and nutrition;

89.  Calls on the Commission to ensure the multisectoral approach to nutrition and to prioritise the integration of food security and nutrition in health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in order to ensure that at least 20 % of official development assistance through the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe is dedicated to social inclusion and human development;

90.  Calls for an integration of nutrition into universal health coverage (UHC) because it is vital for ending malnutrition and UHC will not be achieved unless essential nutrition actions are effectively integrated as essential health services and prioritised in health systems; recalls that UHC is critical to people across the life-course, with a focus on the most deprived and marginalised, and it should be tailored to the health needs of the population; recalls that it can be supported by ensuring optimal and safe feeding of infants and young children including through breast-feeding, by seeking to ensure a balanced and healthy diet including through school meals, by providing skilled nutrition education and counselling for related behavioural change, by placing nutrition in the health sector budget, by building health information systems to take timely actions, and by promoting access to effective and affordable nutrition-related products while reducing the marketing of unhealthy foods;

91.  Recognises that nutrition should be central to health systems strategies, plans and budgets to achieve Universal Health Coverage; calls for greater financial support for health to build strong and resilient health systems to break the intergenerational vicious circle of undernutrition and to prevent and respond to health crises; supports the integration of undernutrition treatment and preventive services as well as health interventions, such as family planning, mental health and pre-and post-natal care in the essential care packages of national health systems to achieve UHC;

92.  Notes that food security is closely linked to water access; calls, therefore, on the European Commission to integrate the right to water and the development of water and water treatment infrastructures in its food security measures in developing countries;

93.  Notes that food and agricultural biodiversity boosts resilience to shocks and facilitates adaptation, maintains stability and supports recovery; recalls that agroecology’s capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been widely recognised in landmark reports, notably from IPCC and IPBES and the World Bank and FAO-led global agricultural assessment (IAASTD); stresses the importance of promoting agroecology, agroforestry, local production and sustainable food systems which focus on the development of short supply chains in both national policies and international forums, in order to ensure food and nutritional security for all as well as increasing the sustainable productivity of the agricultural sector and its resilience to climate change;

94.  Urges the Commission to support partner countries in developing sustainable agriculture practices, including agroecology, with the aim of enhancing soil fertility, maximizing biodiversity and improving water use efficiency as key elements for better food security; notes the challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss and its adverse impacts on food and nutrition security as well as the need to provide the necessary resources for climate change adaptation and mitigation;

95.  Notes that there are many agronomic and agro-ecological approaches that can benefit other climates and situations, such as mixing crops, ‘polycultures’, agro-forestry, including using leguminous trees which are especially good for providing shade and protection for other crops and animals, and attracting and/or increasing the cycling and/or retention of water;

96.  Points out that the destruction of rainforests lead to an irreversible loss of biodiversity and of carbon sinks, as well as of the homes and ways of life of indigenous communities living in the forests; recalls that forests contribute significantly to reaching climate targets, protecting biodiversity and preventing desertification and extreme soil erosion; considers that conservation efforts centred on, for example, forests, wildlife and marine and coastal ecosystems need to be stepped up by making use of regulatory frameworks, sufficient resources and scientific data and accompanied by ecosystem restoration and management actions;

97.  Calls for the link between public health and biodiversity in line with the ‘one health’ approach to be taken into account; urges the EU and all partner countries to recognise and protect indigenous people’s rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and International Labour Organization Convention 169, and to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent;

98.  Recalls that unsustainable agricultural intensification practises are major causes of biodiversity degradation worldwide, including genetic erosion of crop and livestock varieties; recalls that the Farm to Fork strategy aims to gradually reduce by 2030 the overall use and risk of chemical and hazardous pesticides from agriculture and promote alternative practises; stresses that poor countries are the recipients of an important part of hazardous substances; welcomes, therefore, the Commission’s intention to present a proposal to end this practice in the framework of the EU strategy on chemicals for sustainability; urges the Commission, however, to promote the search for sustainable and affordable alternatives to the use of these pesticides in order to avoid serious disruptions to food security in developing countries, which would aggravate hunger among the most vulnerable populations; calls for specific support for education and training in sustainable plant protection approaches and alternatives to pesticides as well as for the minimisation of exposure to hazardous substances;

99.  Denounces the EU’s double standards on pesticides, which allow the export from the EU of hazardous substances which are themselves banned in the EU; highlights that the use of some pesticides in intensive agriculture in developing countries have an impact on the health of workers, in addition to causing environmental damage; calls for education and training in sustainable plant protection, agro-ecological and organic practices;

100.  Recalls that recent reports have found that food systems are contributing to up to one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, up to 80 per cent of biodiversity loss and use up to 70 per cent of freshwater; underlines, however, that sustainable food production systems should be recognised as an essential solution to these existing challenges and that it is possible to feed a growing global population while protecting our planet;

101.  Calls for the EU to actively fulfil the commitments of the Nutrition Year of Action 2021, notably those arising from the UN Food Systems Summit and Nutrition for Growth Summit, and play a central role in cooperation with indigenous communities in these efforts, in line with its own Farm to Fork strategy; welcomes the European Commission's decision to be a major partner in eight coalitions from the UN Food Systems Summit;

102.  Asks the Commission and Member States to engage with the African Union to secure greater commitment and investments to address the ongoing nutrition challenges in the region and to support the African Union Year of Nutrition: “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Strengthening agro food systems, health and social protection systems for the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development”;

103.  Highlights that digital technologies and smart and precision farming offer significant opportunities for the development of sustainable agri-food systems and for driving fair and inclusive economic growth in rural areas in developing countries;

104.  Points to the need to improve food security and nutrition in developing countries through a holistic and sustainable food system approach; calls for the Commission to adopt an inclusive multilateral rights-based strategy; calls on the European Commission to ensure that EU investments in agriculture, economic development, climate mitigation and adaptation, WASH, health and other sectors take nutrition fully into account by incorporating measurable nutrition outcomes at the planning stage;

105.  Stresses the need for the EU to champion human rights and the Right to Adequate Food as a central principle and priority of food systems, to ensure the rights of the most marginalized to access nutritious foods and recognizes the importance of the “UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas”;

106.  Supports the development of trade opportunities between the EU and developing countries, which have the potential to boost local agriculture; recalls that family farmers and smallholders have demonstrated their ability to provide diversified products and to increase food production sustainably;

107.  Stresses the need to recognise the leading role of farmers, producer organisations and their representatives in any strategy to enhance food security and highlights that the setting up of cooperatives and producer groups in developing countries must be supported in order to strengthen their collective capacity to organise themselves more effectively, to benefit from a better position in the food chains as well as sharing of added value on export products;

108.  Stresses that trade liberalization could have an impact on deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss as well as on food production and access to food; believes that EU trade and investment policy towards developing countries should be based on a commercial policy that favours the defence of forests and biodiversity, the development of local agriculture and local producers and farmers, to promote a full food sovereignty and to reduce the phenomenon of land grabbing and deforestation for agricultural export use;

109.  Considers that the Union and the Member States should encourage the various “fair trade” initiatives and integrate environmental and social objectives in a comprehensive and holistic manner across the provisions of all trade agreements;

110.  Recalls that seed diversity is vital in building resilience of farming to climate change; reminds that farm-saved seeds are estimated to account for over 80 % of farmers’ total seed requirements in some African countries; accordingly, calls for the EU to support intellectual property rights regimes in trade agreements that enhance the development of locally adapted seed varieties and farmer-saved seeds, but to refrain from influencing seed law reform, notably in Africa, through the adoption of 1991 UPOV provisions insofar as it is incompatible with the provisions of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA);

111.  Underlines that fisheries and aquaculture products are some of the healthiest foods and have least impact on the natural environment; points out that they can help to achieve several SDGs, especially Goal 2, ‘zero hunger’; calls, therefore, on the Commission to integrate fisheries and aquaculture products when adopting food security strategies, including for developing countries;

112.  Encourages the EU to continue to work towards the conclusion of the multilateral negotiations on fisheries subsidies in the World Trade Organisation - implementing Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 - to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute IUU fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, in full consistency with the objectives set in the European Green Deal, the 8th Environment Action Programme, and the Paris Agreement;

113.  Calls for the global dimension of the biodiversity strategy to support the right to adequate food, implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas in order to address measures to globally improve the working conditions of farm workers and the income of small-scale farmers who are part of international food supply chains, and to ensure that the precautionary principle is included for all food safety requirements; further calls for the EU to align its trade policy with the Farm to Fork and biodiversity strategies’ objectives and with the carbon neutrality objective of the European Green Deal;

114.  Stresses that for sustainability objectives to be successfully pursued, it is a prerequisite that third countries acting on the global stage contribute their share;

115.  Underlines the value of food which must also be understood as far more than a mere commodity but as a right for people that must be realised, and the economic, social and environmental impact and externalities must be better assessed, and mitigated or leveraged as required;

116.  Calls for reinforced action at international level to ensure that policy decision-making has food security at its core, in order to avoid scarcity and ensure nutritional security in the most vulnerable countries;

117.  Calls for continued efforts to ensure the consistency of the EU’s policies in line with the principle of policy coherence for sustainable development; urges to ensure that European exports do not harm the development of local production and local markets; stresses that EU free trade agreements should not disrupt local agriculture, damage small producers or exacerbate dependency on food imports; urges support for local production and consumption which can ensure local employment creation, assure fair prices, guarantee the protection of workers’ health and safety, and lessen countries’ dependency on imports and their vulnerability to international price fluctuations;

118.  Points out the need for clear guidelines on how to achieve policy coherence for development at EU level while also addressing potentially conflicting policy objectives; urges the EU to guarantee the coherence of European agricultural and trade policies to support food security and food sovereignty and to protect local and regional markets;

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119.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ L 209, 14.6.2021, p. 1. (2) OJ L 163, 2.7.1996, p. 1. (3) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0505. (4) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0073_EN.html (5) OJ C 289, 9.8.2016, p. 71. (6) OJ C 86, 6.3.2018, p. 10. (7) OJ C 215, 19.6.2018, p. 10. (8) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2022)0099. (9) OJ C 25, 30.1.2008, p. 1. (10) FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020, https://www.fao.org/3/ca9231en/CA9231EN.pdf (11) IPBES-IPCC Co-Sponsored Workshop, Biodiversity and Climate Change, Workshop Report. (12) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2021. (13) Global Report on Food Crises 2021, September update. (14) Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security. (15) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2021: https://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf (16) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2021. (17) UNICEF, World Health Organization and World Bank joint child malnutrition estimates, Levels and trends in child malnutrition, 2021. (18) FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020, https://www.fao.org/3/ca9231en/CA9231EN.pdf (19) Global Report on Food Crises 2021. (20) Food sovereignty defined by Via Campesina as “the right of Peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Food security defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security exists “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” (21) https://www.oxfam.org/en/empowering-women-farmers-end-hunger-and-poverty (22) Jones, Andrew D; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Zimmerer, Karl S.; De Haan, Stef; Carrasco, Miluska; Meza, Krysty; Cruz-Garcia, Gisella S.; Tello, Milka; Amaya, Franklin Plasencia; Marin, R Margot; and Ganoza, Lizette. 2018. Farm-level agricultural biodiversity in the Peruvian Andes is associated with greater odds of women achieving a minimally diverse and micronutrient adequate diet. Journal of Nutrition 148(10): 1625-1637.