Devex Dish: And the World Food Prize goes to …

Every year I look forward to the World Food Prize announcement because I always learn about someone who has found a unique way to contribute to global food security. The award, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture, boasts a list of luminaries among its past recipients: Former WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini, former U.S. Sens. Bob Dole and George McGovern, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and former Nigerian Agriculture Minister and current African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, among others. The committee always seems to find a way to award the $250,000 prize to someone meeting a food security challenge of the moment, such as last year when Cynthia Rosenzweig — more from her below — won for her work modeling how climate change will affect agricultural productivity. This year, the World Food Prize Foundation has selected Heidi Kühn, founder of Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization that restores land to agriculture after conflict. This seems to be a clear signal of how intertwined food security and conflict are as we see growing instability across the world, and how important ending violence is for ensuring access to food. When I spoke with Kühn in advance of the public announcement — she was traveling in Azerbaijan last week when her honor was made official here at a ceremony in Washington — she told me how Roots of Peace partners with demining organizations to remove land mines and other unexploded weapons from the land. Then, they work with farmers to provide technical assistance and training so they can increase agricultural production and create sustainable livelihoods. She told me land mine removal is absolutely central to development — in fact, she thinks it should be the 18th of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. “None of the other 17 can possibly happen unless the land mines are first removed,” Kühn told me. “Then we can layer food security, then we can layer the high-value crops. We can provide the exports to new markets.” Read: Humanitarian restoring agriculture to war zones wins World Food Prize Don’t believe what you see on the internet I am absolutely terrible at keeping up with pop culture — with the exception of anything having to do with Taylor Swift, because, obviously — but even I have heard about the dubious practice of celebrities using obesity drugs for weight loss. Now, the World Health Organization is considering whether such drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, deserve inclusion on its list of essential medicines. Experts tell Devex contributor Andrew Green that if they are named to the list, it could catalyze a transformation in how low- and middle-income countries recognize and respond to obesity and the noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, to which it contributes. Between 2000 and 2021, the number of overweight children under 5 years old in sub-Saharan Africa rose by nearly 24%, according to WHO. An estimated 70% of people who are overweight or obese live in LMICs, and related NCDs are rising among the leading causes of death in those countries. The WHO essential medicines list is divided into core medicines of the absolute minimum drugs every health system should offer and complementary medicines, which may require specialist diagnostics or care. There are currently no medications on the list that specifically target weight loss for the ongoing global burden of obesity. WHO is scheduled to release an updated list of medications in September. Read: Could WHO jumpstart widespread access to obesity medications? From our archives: To tackle obesity, World Bank looks to lessons from Latin America (Pro) + Start your 15-day free trial of Devex Pro today to access all our exclusive reporting and analysis. A mouthful “We must make the food system nutritious for all — it has to be a nutrition delivery system, not just a calorie delivery system.” --— Cynthia Rosenzweig, 2022 World Food Prize laureate My colleague Helen Lock spoke with Rosenzweig as her year as laureate draws to a close about what she sees as the biggest challenges to food system transformation. The difficulty, she says, is that so much must happen at one time: We need to overhaul farming systems so they are just and equitable. At the same time, we need to both adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture. Oh, and don’t forget that food systems must deliver adequate nutrition to support human health. Read: What a lifetime of predicting climate’s impact on food has revealed Recap: Climate scientist wins 2022 World Food Prize Number munching 14.5% --— That’s the percent of global greenhouse gas emissions due to livestock. But in this Devex op-ed by Appolinaire Djikeng, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute, he argues that African livestock production systems are not homogenous. Because of this, taking a “one-size-fits-all approach” to reduce emissions from the sector won’t be effective. He cites some evidence that global calculations may overestimate African livestock’s contribution to global emissions while underestimating the potential benefits for nutrition, livelihoods, and biodiversity. Because of this, the global community needs to be more nuanced in its approach to moving toward sustainable, low-emitting, and climate-resilient livestock in Africa, and understand a transition could take more than a decade. “By embracing regional and production differences, climate negotiators can clear the way for greater climate finance and support for livestock initiatives and policies, allowing Africa to meet climate goals without sacrificing food security and economic development,” he writes. Opinion: Tailor climate-smart livestock solutions to African context Chew on this Nigerian chef Hilda Baci cooked for 100 hours nonstop in an attempt to set a new world record for the longest cooking marathon, which is currently held by Indian chef Lata Tondon at 87 hours 45 minutes. [CNN] The World Health Organization recommends against the use of nonsugar sweeteners to control body weight or reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases. [WHO] Globally, Iceland has the furthest to go to reduce its use of animal-sourced foods to meet the guidelines of the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet — Icelanders would need to eat 73% less meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs. [Compassion in World Farming] There is a large-scale outbreak of the Moroccan locust in Afghanistan’s biggest wheat-producing region. [FAO]