Nations around the world are working hard to get a grip on the COVID 19 pandemic that had created severe disruptions to livelihoods and wreaking havoc to the global economy for the past 2 years. Lockdowns have had a huge impact the global food system and governments and businesses have been working hard on removing the bottlenecks and solving the vulnerabilities in the global food chain. To make matters worse, climate change had contributed to increased unpredictability and upheavals in weather conditions, leading to devastating outcomes in livestock and crop production.
As we enter 2022, with countries pushing towards recovery, old problems remained. Global hunger increased by an estimated 118 million people worldwide, resulting in about 768 million starving people to the statistic. The number of people living with food insecurity surged by 318 million to 2.38 billion. Against this backdrop, two significant challenges have emerged. For one, food inflation caused by increased demand and global supply chain issues. The other problem is the scarcity of fertilisers resulting in the rise in their prices. Such issues compound the already challenging food security situation the world is facing.
The silver lining is that humanity is not sitting still. Already, tremendous progress has been made on the latest technological advancements in automation, digitalization, machine learning and IoT to accelerate the solutions needed for humankind. It is in times of calamities that man’s fullest potential is reached. In the current phase of Industry 4.0, the combination of cyber physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems make smart urban farming and artificial food production a reality, mitigating the effects of climate change with the potential to solving the problems of food shortages if these technologies are sufficiently brought to scale.
It is time for the world to speed up the process of innovation for food security to lightspeed. We are witnessing huge leaps in technological advancements that were once deemed too farfetched to be realized only in sci-fi movies. These advancements include lab grown proteins, alternative proteins, nanotechnology in food production and a multi diversity of scientific disciplines all coming together in creating a future proof food system for humanity.
The 2nd Global Food Security & Sustainability Summit 2022 held on the 30 June to 1 July 2022, would be one of the most important events ever held to address the critical issues of food security from the local level to the global level, and from an interdisciplinary and systemic food systems perspective. The event will also showcase the latest technological innovations driving food production that will become a game changer for the food sector. The summit will invite multi stakeholders from governmental organisations, private sector businesses and NGOs to address the current disruptions and possible solutions on the world food supply chain. Discussions will also include issues surrounding sustainability issues and how societies and businesses can design more sustainable solutions in their entire food chain to minimize impact to the environment and reduce food waste. The event will also devote sufficient attention to the future of nutrition in these exciting times.
See you at this landmark event.
