RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a global alliance against hunger and poverty in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, an initiative he described as one of Brazil’s top priorities for its current presidency of the Group of 20 countries.
“Hunger is not something natural. Hunger is something that requires a political decision,” Lula said at a ministerial meeting to launch the global alliance. The leftist leader criticized the continued hunger in the world despite sufficient production.
Lula wanted to drum up support ahead of the formal launch of the alliance later this year, when world leaders gather in Rio de Janeiro on November 18-19 for a summit of the top 20 rich and developing countries.
The alliance aims to implement a mechanism to mobilize funds and knowledge to support the expansion of policies and programs to combat inequality and poverty, according to a statement by Brazil’s G20 news agency on Tuesday. It will be managed from a secretariat at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters in Rome and Brasilia until 2030, with half of the costs covered by Brazil, Lula said in his speech.
Lula, a former union member who governed between 2003 and 2010, returned to the presidency in 2023 for a third, non-consecutive term after thwarting the re-election campaign of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula, born into a poor family in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, has long been committed to tackling hunger, both at home and abroad.
Food security and poverty issues are pervasive in Brazil, from the Amazon to major urban centers, and the country can bring its expertise to the global conversation, said Marcelo Cândido da Silva, a professor of history at the University of Sao Paulo and vice-coordinator of an international research project against hunger.
Brazil is also one of the world’s largest food exporters, shipping large quantities of corn, soy, coffee, sugar, beef and chicken abroad.
Ending extreme poverty and hunger by 2030 is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015, but progress lags.
According to the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, released in Rio on Wednesday, some 733 million people will face hunger in 2023. That is equivalent to one in 11 people globally and one in five in Africa.
In 2020, there was a sharp increase in the number of people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, numbers have remained stubbornly high, despite progress in Latin America and the Caribbean, it said in a statement coinciding with the report’s launch.
“A future without hunger is possible if we can mobilize the resources and political will needed to invest in proven, long-term solutions,” World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said in the statement.
In addition to highlighting hunger and poverty, Brazilian diplomats are also using the G20 presidency to push for reform of global governance institutions and advocate for a sustainable energy transition.
These efforts are part of Lula’s attempt to present his country – and himself – as the leader of the Global South.
The alliance against hunger and poverty “allows Brazil to position itself as a leader, because it is raising an issue that is close to the hearts of the world’s poorest countries in a forum where they are not represented, the G20,” said Eduardo Mello, professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think tank and university.
But there is a lack of political will due to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, Mello said.