At climate conference COP30 in Brazil, 43 countries and the European Union linked climate action to hunger eradication, food access, and social protection. This is a monumental shift placing the most vulnerable people at the center of global climate policy for the first time.
The Belém Declaration marks a turning point: Social protection is no longer just a stopgap for climate shocks. And it must be at the center of any strategy to reduce global hunger.
This pledge highlights the vulnerability of populations who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods and who are the first to absorb the shocks of crop failures, price volatility, drought losses, land degradation, and displacement. It offers a foundation for helping rural households transition to livelihoods that can withstand long-term climate shifts.
About the author
Máximo Torero Cullen
Máximo Torero Cullen is the chief economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Prior to joining FAO, he had been executive director at the World Bank Group since November 2016 and, before the bank, Torero led the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division at the IFPRI.
