Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Zero Hunger is all about ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has enough nutritious food to eat every day. It involves not just feeding people today, but also changing how we grow and share food. This means supporting local farmers, protecting the soil and seeds (sustainable agriculture), and making sure children get the right nutrients to grow up strong and healthy.
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Zero Hunger is all about ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has enough nutritious food to eat every day. It involves not just feeding people today, but also changing how we grow and share food. This means supporting local farmers, protecting the soil and seeds (sustainable agriculture), and making sure children get the right nutrients to grow up strong and healthy.
Introduction to Goal 2
A curriculum designed for Goal 2 that inspires the values and competencies behind this mission for grades 5-12.
Featured Lesson: Drama
Seeds of Change: A Drama for Zero Hunger
Dive into Goal 2 through the lens of drama. This lesson provides hands-on activities and creative exploration designed to bring the concepts to life for students.
Lessons
Seeds of Change: A Drama for Zero Hunger
Explore Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture through drama.
These learning objectives are organized into five categories that together form a comprehensive approach to understanding and engaging with this goal.
Knowledge
- •
Define food insecurity in its various dimensions (chronic, acute, hidden hunger) and identify its complex causes (poverty, conflict, climate change, inequality, food waste) and far-reaching consequences on individuals, families, and communities globally.
(Cr1.1.HS, Cn10.1.HS) - •
Understand the critical interconnectedness of hunger with other global challenges such as poverty, armed conflict, environmental degradation, and social injustice, analyzing how these factors exacerbate food insecurity and hinder sustainable development.
(Cn10.1.HS, Cn11.1.HS)
Discourse
- •
Participate thoughtfully and respectfully in nuanced discussions about the multifaceted challenges of food insecurity, exploring diverse perspectives from individuals, communities, policymakers, and activists working on solutions.
(Re9.1.HS, Cn11.1.HS) - •
Analyze and interpret the powerful ways in which music and art across various cultures and time periods have depicted the realities of hunger, food scarcity, and the human yearning for sustenance and dignity.
(Re7.1.HS, Re8.1.HS) - •
Communicate their developing ideas, informed insights, and potential solutions for addressing hunger and promoting food security through purposeful and impactful creative expression in movement, art creation, and articulate discussions.
(Cr3.1.HS, Pr5.1.HS)
Attitudes
- •
Develop a profound sense of empathy and compassion for the lived experiences of individuals and communities facing the daily realities of food insecurity, fostering a deeper understanding of their resilience and dignity.
(Re8.1.HS, Cn10.1.HS) - •
Appreciate the fundamental importance of achieving food security and improved nutrition as a cornerstone for a healthy, equitable, and sustainable world, recognizing it as a basic human right.
(Cn11.1.HS) - •
Cultivate an open and critical mindset towards considering diverse and innovative solutions and approaches to tackling the complex challenge of hunger, acknowledging the need for multi-faceted and collaborative action.
(Re9.1.HS)
Capacity
- •
Develop advanced critical thinking skills by thoroughly analyzing the systemic causes and devastating consequences of hunger and food insecurity at local, national, and global scales, evaluating the strengths and limitations of various proposed solutions.
(Re9.1.HS, Cn10.1.HS) - •
Practice sophisticated collaboration and articulate communication skills through engaging in thoughtful group activities, co-creating impactful artistic responses, and effectively conveying complex ideas and proposed actions.
(Cr2.1.HS, Pr5.1.HS) - •
Develop refined creative expression skills through purposeful experimentation and thoughtful application of diverse artistic mediums (music, movement, drama, visual art, writing) to communicate nuanced understandings and inspire meaningful engagement with the issue of hunger.
(Cr3.1.HS)
Action
- •
Brainstorm, evaluate, and propose practical, ethical, and sustainable solutions to address food insecurity at various levels, considering the interconnectedness of the food system and the need for systemic change.
(Cr3.1.HS, Pr6.1.HS, Cn11.1.HS) - •
Identify and explore concrete ways they can take informed and meaningful action within their own communities and beyond to combat hunger, promote food security, and support organizations working towards these goals.
(Pr6.1.HS, Cn11.1.HS) - •
Commit to ongoing learning and critical reflection on the complexities of hunger and its solutions, fostering a sense of sustained engagement and responsible global citizenship in the pursuit of a Zero Hunger world.
(Re9.1.HS, Cn11.1.HS)
Empowering youth to become active agents of change in the pursuit of ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture for all. Recognizing that even small, consistent actions can contribute to a larger global impact.
Small, Everyday Actions to Inspire Change
Reduce Food Waste at Home: Be mindful of portion sizes, store food properly to extend its shelf life, and get creative with leftovers. This directly impacts target 2.1 and 2.c.
Compost Food Scraps: If possible, compost organic waste. This enriches soil for gardening and reduces landfill waste, contributing to sustainable practices.
Make Informed Food Choices: Learn about where your food comes from. Choose seasonal and locally grown produce when available to support local farmers and reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.
Understand Nutritional Needs: Pay attention to balanced meals and healthy eating habits. This can improve your own nutrition and help you understand the importance of target 2.2.
Read Food Labels: Become familiar with nutritional information and ingredients. This can help you make healthier choices and understand the broader implications of food production.
Value All Food: Appreciate the effort and resources that go into producing food. Avoid wasting food and encourage others to do the same.
Grow Something: Even a small herb garden or a few vegetables in pots can help you understand the process of food production and the importance of healthy soil.
Share Knowledge: If you learn an interesting fact about food security or sustainable agriculture, share it with friends or family to raise awareness.
Support Farmers: Look for ways to support small-scale food producers, such as visiting farmers' markets or choosing products from local farms.
Be Mindful of Water Usage: Water is a critical resource for agriculture. Be conscious of your water consumption at home, contributing to sustainable resource management.
Holistic Actions
Awareness and Advocacy (Using Your Voice)
Local Engagement and Support (Acting in Your Community)
Global Citizenship and Learning (Expanding Your Understanding)
Benchmarking Progress
A quick view of the official UN targets for this goal paired with the indicators that track global progress. Use these to connect classroom inquiry with real-world data.
Target 2.1
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
Indicators
- 2.1.1
Prevalence of undernourishment.
- 2.1.2
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).
Target 2.2
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.
Indicators
- 2.2.1
Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age.
- 2.2.2
Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight).
- 2.2.3
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage).
Target 2.3
By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
Indicators
- 2.3.1
Volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/foresty enterprise size.
- 2.3.2
Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status.
Target 2.4
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
Indicators
- 2.4.1
Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.
Target 2.5
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.
Indicators
- 2.5.1
Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities.
- 2.5.2
Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction.
Target 2.a
Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries.
Indicators
- 2.a.1
The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures.
- 2.a.2
Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector.
Target 2.b
Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round.
Indicators
- 2.b.1
Agricultural export subsidies.
Target 2.c
Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.
Indicators
- 2.c.1
Indicator of food price anomalies.