The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 UN report, released in July this year, revealed that more than 820 million people around the world went without food in 2018, a number that continues to climb. It served as a timely reminder of how far we are from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero World Hunger and Malnutrition by 2030.

World Food Day, held this year on 16 October, is one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar, and provides a much needed opportunity to highlight the urgent efforts needed to tackle the global food security crisis, promoting worldwide awareness of those suffering from hunger and malnutrition. With sufficient action still not being taken, we face a deepening of these troubling trends, which will hit hardest people who are already poor, vulnerable and marginalised.

GODAN Executive Director Andre Laperriere said: "We need to urgently acknowledge key structural issues hampering progress and the profound transformation of food systems needed to provide sustainably-produced healthy diets for a growing population. The time to act is now, and the only way we can do that is by being smarter in our approach. Radical technological, monitoring and AI solutions are going to be required to solve these growing global concerns."

Hundreds of events and outreach activities organised this World Food Day will bring together governments, businesses, NGOs, the media, and general public to publicise what is probably one of the most pressing issues of our time.

Our Deputy Director, Eliane Ubalijoro, will be celebrating World Food Day at the McGill University. The University marks World Food Day each year with a guest lecture on the subject of food security. Stephen Potter, Director of Agriculture and Food Systems at Global Affairs Canada, will be delivering a talk on Canada's Development Assistance in Support of Sustainable Global Agriculture and Food Systems.