World hunger is a political choice – just look at Brazil

Hunger is neither a natural condition of humankind nor an unavoidable tragedy: it is the result of choices made by governments and economic systems that have chosen to turn a blind eye to inequality or even promote it.

- LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA

The same global order that denies 673 million people access to adequate food also enables a privileged group of just 3,000 billionaires to hold 14.6 per cent of global GDP.

In 2024, the wealthiest nations helped drive the largest surge in military spending since the end of the Cold War, which reached $2.7 trillion (£2.02 trillion) that year. Yet they failed to deliver on their own commitment: to invest 0.7 per cent of their GDP in concrete actions to promote development in poorer countries.

Today, we see situations not unlike those that prevailed 80 years ago, when the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was created. Unlike then, however, we are not only witnessing the tragedies of war and hunger feeding into each other, but also facing the urgent climate crisis. And the international order established to address the challenges of 1945 is no longer sufficient to deal with today's problems.

Global governance mechanisms must be reformed. We need to strengthen multilateralism, create investment flows that promote sustainable development, and ensure that states have the capacity to implement consistent public policies to fight hunger and poverty.

It is essential to include the poor in public budgets, and the wealthy in the tax base. This requires tax justice and taxing the super-rich, an issue we managed to include for the first time in the final declaration of the last G20 summit, held in November 2024 under Brazil's presidency. A symbolic but historic change.