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July 11, 2014 - The global population is set to exceed 9 billion by 2050. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the population is expected to more than double, from 1.1 billion today to 2.4 billion in 2050.
This raises major questions about food security. Today, 27 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is already undernourished, with the young suffering disproportionally. At the same time, the region scores the lowest level in the world's crop yields, with cereal yields one-half of the world average. Soil quality is poor throughout much of the region, depleted of organic matter and nutrients.
As the threat of environmental degradation and climate change further hinder the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the potentially daunting challenge of feeding the planet's increasing population needs to be urgently addressed.
With more than 31% of the population of Africa aged 10-24, the GEF can help catalyze the region's potential to increase food security by including young people in innovative programs.
The GEF has a proven track record of improving food security in the region by supporting local communities, including youth, in the community-based co-management of fisheries, improvement of soil quality for crop production through participatory processes, and multi-scale investments in agricultural development.
In GEF-6, initiatives to address the food, water and energy nexus will be scaled up. The Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa Integrated Approach Pilot (IAP) program is one of the three designed for GEF-6 and guided by the recently approved GEF 2020 strategy. The program recognizes that jointly tackling energy, water, soils, and food is essential for sustainable development promoting greater impact and efficiency in the overall investments.
The GEF, through its role as financial mechanism for multiple global environmental conventions, can play a key role in breaking the silos that often dictate energy, water, and food policies. The energy-water-food nexus has multiple impacts across GEF programs: from promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, to biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land and water management, including conjunctive management of groundwater resources, sustainable fisheries, and climate change adaptation.
Front page photo by Thomas Renken