l4;no hunger

Sustainable Development Goal 2, commonly known as Zero Hunger, is centered on ending all forms of hunger and malnutrition on a global scale.
The primary mechanism for achieving this goal involves ensuring that every individual has consistent access to nutritious food, a concept formally defined as food security.
Major targets for the year $2030$ include:
- Ensuring access by all people, especially the poor and people in vulnerable situations, to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round.
- Achieving a $50\%$ reduction in the number of stunted children under the age of $5$ years, using $2012$ as the baseline year for measurement.

Hunger is defined as the persistent and continuing lack of the food necessary to maintain an active and healthy life.
The presence of food scarcity and chronic hunger leads directly to malnutrition and significant ill health.
Malnutrition is often characterized by an inadequate intake of essential micronutrients. Specific deficiencies highlighted include:
- Iron
- Vitamin A

Undernourishment Scale: In the current world, approximately $795 \times 10^{6}$ people (795 million) are undernourished. This equates to approximately $1$ in every $9$ people globally.
Regional Variance: Asia is the continent with the highest concentration of hungry people, accounting for two-thirds ( $67\%$ ) of the global total.
Stunted Growth: One-quarter ( $1$ in $4$ ) of all children globally suffer from stunted growth. This rate is even more severe in certain developing countries, where it reaches as high as $1$ in $3$ .
Agricultural Employment: Agriculture serves as the world's largest employer. It provides a livelihood for $40\%$ of the entire global population.
Gender Disparity in Farming: If female farmers were provided with the same access to agricultural resources as their male counterparts, the total number of hungry people globally could be reduced by as many as $150 \times 10^{6}$ (150 million).
Loss of Biodiversity: There has been a significant decline in agricultural diversity over the last century. Since the $1900\text{s}$ , roughly $75\%$ of crop diversity has been lost from farmers' fields world-wide.

Developed Countries: This is the only group of nations currently appearing to meet or come close to meeting the targets set for Zero Hunger.
Sub-Saharan Africa: This region faces significant challenges, with data suggesting a need for critical assessment of current levels of food security and the reasons behind the slow progress.
Pacific Island Countries: Progress in these nations focuses heavily on the target of reducing the number of stunted children under $5$ years of age by $50\%$ relative to $2012$ benchmarks.
Progress Categories for Global Goals:
- Substantial progress/on track
- Fair progress but acceleration needed
- Limited or no progress
- Deterioration

Australia's Food Waste: In Australia, supermarkets and households contribute to a total waste of $7.6 \times 10^{6}$ tonnes (7.6 million tonnes) of food every year.
Nutritional Analysis: The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) is used as a standard to evaluate the nutrient density of daily food intake.
Economic Constraints and Nutrition: There is a stark contrast between an average daily diet and the dietary options available when limited to a budget of only $\$2$ per day. This involves evaluating whether essential nutrients can be maintained under extreme financial constraints.

What is the current level in sub-Saharan Africa? Why could this be?
Why are only developed countries meeting targets?
How can we as a world change from having countries be in the "deterioration" phase to "substantial progress/on track" phase?
What does the Pacific Islands' goal of achieving a $50\%$ reduction from $2012$ in the number of stunted children under $5$ years tell us?