DILI, 13 june 2021 (TATOLI) – The government of Timor-Leste through The National Council for Food Security and Nutrition Timor-Leste (CONSANTIL) realizes a national dialogue as Timor-Leste’s preparation to participate in the 2021 Food Systems Pre-Summit, which will take place in Rome from 26 to 28 july 2021.
CONSANTIL Spokesperson, Filipe da Costa said that the aim of the dialogue was to discuss four main topics, including food system, nutrition, child wasting, and school feeding program in order to have Timor-Leste prepared to participate in the next 2021 Food Systems Summit.
“We need to put together our efforts to strengthen Timor-Leste food systems to combat malnutrition and food insecurity in the country. You know, 36 percent of the population of Timor-Leste is still experiencing food insecurity, malnutrition and stunting are one of the highest in the world and many Timorese are still living below the poverty line,” Costa made the comments at the opening ceremony of the National Dialogue at City-8 hall, in Dili, today.
The national dialogue was part of the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals to end malnutrition, food insecurity, hunger, and have better nutrition by 2030, said Costa.
At the same place, the UN Resident Coordinator, Roy Trivedy informed that today around 850 million people across the world were hungry.
“Every third person in the world is malnourished and this reflects the food systems which are out of balance. For this reason, the member states of the United Nations, together with the United Nations Secretary-General decided to have a series of events this year to talk about how we can get these food systems in a better position to be more sustainable in the future,” said Trivedy.
He said this dialogue was part of that series of events that will take place, the first of which is the preparatory summit for the food systems summit which will take place in Rome: “I am really pleased to know that we will have a representative from Timor-Leste there. We also have in September a high-level forum, bringing together all leaders to talk about the food system and share experiences and learn from each other.”
“Today presented a great opportunity for us to discuss, collaborate, and coordinate on the challenges and opportunities that Timor-Leste is facing in all sectors for food systems– production, supply chain, food processing, distribution network, and consumption,” said Trivedy.
He said Sustainable Food Systems don’t just help to end hunger, they can help the world to achieve critical progress on all 17 of the sustainable development goals.
“Food is a common thread linking all 17 sustainable development goals given the interconnected economic, social, and environmental dimensions of food systems,” He said.
Trivedy added one of the big things that Timor-Leste did in the past year was its membership in the scaling up of the nutrition network, which brings together government, private sector, civil society, and international organizations.
The 17 SDGs are (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reducing Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s official data, between 720 and 811 million people in the world face hunger in 2020.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
