On 26th November in Abu Dhabi, the Global Food Security Summit, “Together, for Humanity,” was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Representatives from developing countries, women and youth including experts from across the world came together to discuss how we combat world hunger by focusing on biosecurity and agriculture in arid environments.
Australia is among the most food secure nations in the world. Currently we rank 22nd on the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) in 2022, alongside countries like Germany and UAE. Our diversified production system, mature supply chains and high-income (rank 12th in the world for per capita income), gives many Australians reasonable access to food. Despite Australia exporting more than 70% of what we grow or produce, according to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2024, 32% of Australian households or an estimated 3.4 million households experienced severe or moderate food insecurity in 2024. This alarming statistic shows we can not be complacent about food security. Food resilience planning is needed to better support our food system to unprecedented shocks like floods or bushfires.
At the summit, global collaboration and innovation were highlighted as critical enablers to creating more sustainable solutions for food security. A vehicle to unlock these solutions at the national, regional, and local levels was through clusters. Building clusters of a critical mass of industry, researchers and government around these burning platforms, or challenges that cannot be resolved in isolation, is the way forward. The place-based clusters create the economies of scale around the capabilities and capacity needed for transformative change, and how we close the gap from our current 13,300 trillion calories consumed globally to the 20,500 trillion calories required by 2050. Read more about how Australia food and agribusiness clusters are helping Australia remain a food secure country.
Visit their website: https://www.gfss.ae/
