Executive Summary
The global food security and nutrition landscape is undergoing a profound shift due to conflict, climate extremes, and geopolitical changes, leading to escalating acute malnutrition. The EU's external action needs fundamental realignment and a renewed political framework to address these challenges effectively. This requires sustained political will and long-term financial commitments to prevent further deterioration of global nutrition.
Why It Matters
This document highlights how global food security and nutrition are increasingly intertwined with geopolitical stability, conflict, and climate change, directly impacting human security and requiring strategic policy responses from major international actors like the EU.
Key Takeaways
- The current global polycrisis, driven by escalating conflicts and climate shocks, necessitates a fundamental realignment of EU external action towards integrated, multi-annual funding for nutrition and food system resilience.
Source evidence · PDF page 1
The compounding nature of today’s polycrisis—most recently marked by escalating conflicts, severe climate shocks, and supply chain disruptions—demands a fundamental realignment of EU external action toward integrated, multi-annual funding models that link immediate nutrition interventions with long-term health and food system resilience.
- Food security and nutrition are critical enablers and direct outcomes of global stability, peace, and economic development, requiring their repositioning beyond sectoral goals within EU policy.
Source evidence · PDF page 4
To remain effective in this new landscape, food security and nutrition must be repositioned not just as a sectoral goal, but as both a critical enabler and a direct outcome of global stability, gender equality, resilience, economic development and peace.
- The EU needs to adopt a successor nutrition strategy to guide programming post-2027, safeguard previous gains, and reaffirm its leadership in global food and nutrition security amidst a strategic policy vacuum.
Source evidence · PDF page 5
Adopt a Successor EU Nutrition Strategy: Following the conclusion of the EU Action Plan on Nutrition (APN) legacy cycle, the EU currently faces a policy limbo. This action plan has provided vital guidance since 2013, and a success for the framework is critical to safeguard nutrition gains and reaffirm EU leadership in global food and nutrition security.
Strategic Relevance
The document underscores the strategic importance of food security and nutrition as foundational elements for global stability and resilience, particularly in fragile, conflict-affected regions. It calls for the EU to integrate these concerns into its grand strategy and external action to mitigate geopolitical risks and humanitarian crises.