United Nations releases first food road map to achieve zero hunger by 2050

Forget grass-fed beef, within a generation it will be algal, fungal or even insect-fed. The list of 120 actions frowns on barbecues, but you can prepare pulses in a high-pressure cooker.

Cattle, and even dairy cows, are in the sights of the United Nations which wants people to shift what they eat and drink to stop global hunger and prevent global warming. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Beef is out. Fish is in. Sugar is taxed. Low income families will get subsidies to encourage healthier nutritious eating. Consumers can buy genetically modified rice. Forget grass-fed beef, it will be algal, fungal or even insect-fed. No barbecues allowed but you can prepare pulses in a high pressure cooker.

This is the world according to the United Nations food road map, released on Sunday to help keep the world’s temperature rises below the 1.5 target and ensure the world’s population, predicted to hit 10 billion in 2050, doesn’t go hungry.

The UN believes a significant reform of the global food system is required, with a rebalancing of waste and excess to countries that are starving, as a third of global food production will be at risk of global heating within a generation.

In this first road map, issued on Sunday under a hefty UN report with the enticing heading, “Achieving SDG2 without breaking the 1.5C threshold” (which means let’s get to zero hunger amid a population boom, but not impact the planet).

It lists 120 different actions that should be considered, and perhaps legislated in upcoming COP’s to “rebalance” meat consumption, food waster, fertiliser use, application of genetics and even food taxes so that the world can have a fairer food system “without pitting developed against developing nations’’.

The UN also wants everyone in the world to be consuming a healthy diet by 2050. If Australia succeeds in its bid to host the COP31 in 2026, the food road map is expected to be one of the key agenda items.

The targets by 2030 are to reduce methane emissions from livestock by 25 per cent; ensure the world’s fisheries are sustainably managed, provide safe and affordable drinking water for all; halve food waste and eliminate wood fires for cooking.

The report says, in 2022, 738.9 million people faced hunger, 2.4 billion in 2022 were moderately or severely food insecure, and over 3.1 billion lacked access to healthy diets. It predicts that by 2030, an estimated 590.3 million will suffer hunger, and global nutrition targets is “uneven”.

Agriculture and livestock farming, which it says contributes to greenhouse gas emissions – around a 10th of global carbon – is in the world body’s firing line. The UN report calls to reduce emissions from livestock production by three per cent every year.

“Our findings indicate a required growth rate of 1.5% in total factor productivity for crops and 1.7% for livestock,’’ the report says.

Insects are on the UN menu as it pushes for ‘zero hunger’. Picture: Mathew Farrell

“Given the significant role livestock can play in mitigation efforts, there’s a specific target to reduce emissions from livestock production by 3% annually. These growth rates are substantial, doubling compared to the performance of the last decade.”

When it comes to ruminant animals – cows, sheep, goats, moose, camels and deer – the UN recommendations including boosting efficiency, intensify production in extensive systems, promote fattening livestock solutions, develop more digestible feeds, improve valuation of crop residues and avoid their burning, plant pastures with improved grasses and legumes, provide seasonal feed supplementation (including but not limited to lipids), and adopt new feed solutions like seaweed.

But it also wants people to eat more fish and chicken rather than beef.

The UN recommendations for ruminant animals includes adopting new feed solutions like seaweed. Asparagopsis seaweed, pictured, can reduce methane emissions in sheep and cattle by up to 98 per cent. Picture: Supplied

It says that this masterplan is needed to create synergies between agricultural challenges and limiting future temperature rises especially for vulnerable populations like low and middle income countries and small island states.

“This is especially true to overcome the drivers of inactions: Denial, Division, Distraction and Doomism,’’ it said in the report.

Climate experts say the report doesn’t go far, or fast enough. Craig Hanson, managing director of programs, World Resources Institute said the question of how to feed the planet by 2050 without destroying it in the process is one of the grand challenges of our time.

“Rich countries will need to nudge people toward less meat-centric diets, and advance technologies and practices to drive down agricultural emissions. Low-income countries will need to sustainably boost crop and livestock productivity. Smallholder farmers will need far more assistance to adapt to extreme weather. And all these changes will need to happen without further sacrificing forests for agriculture.”

Emile Frison, from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, said the incremental improvements to the current industrial food system in the report is “unlikely to be enough”.

He said: “The next stage will need to go much further, tackling the massive power inequalities imposed by the handful of companies that define what we grow and eat.”

Grain-fed meat is out.