Food is essential to our very existence. It gives us energy for the day, but it’s also a way to connect with our friends, family, different cultures, and communities.
Yet, access to food is not equal for everyone around the world. In fact, millions of families globally do not know when their next meal will be, while 50 million are on the brink of starvation.
Worse still, the world’s hunger crisis is growing. Global conflict, the cost of living, and climate change have all taken damaging blows to the world’s food systems, and are some of the biggest reasons why levels of food insecurity and food shortages are skyrocketing around the world.
The global hunger crisis can seem like such a huge and abstract concept, that it might be hard to imagine.
So we asked you, Global Citizens from around the world, to tell us how the global food crisis is impacting your daily lives and what action you'd like to see world leaders take to put an urgent end to it. These moving personal messages just go to show why it’s imperative that world leaders act now.
You can join our call on world leaders to act to end the hunger crisis — head here to take action by writing #HungryForAction on an empty plate and taking a selfie. We'll share your selfies and messages with decision makers so they can see how serious we, the Global Citizen community, are about wanting to see an end to hunger.
Global Citizens from around the world share their call on world leaders to act on the global hunger crisis ahead of Global Citizen Festival 2023.
This is what you told us about your experiences of the hunger crisis.
Sindiswa N., South Africa
"In my village, families are struggling to put food on the table, to educate their children, and live better lives. Most households are female led as the men go to mines to find work. Crops are failing due to poor rainfall and monoculture and food [is] getting more expensive."
Louise N., United Kingdom
"The hunger crisis has had a huge impact on my community. So many more people need to use food banks now, and there is a noticeably bigger shortage of food than there was before. Leaders need to act urgently to address this issue because having access to food is so essential for people, especially for vulnerable people like children."
Babarita M., Ghana
"My parents are being forced to skip meals so that we the children can eat — sometimes not eating for days themselves. Children are being taken out of school to work to earn money and to be sent to beg in nearby towns. It's not easy seeing such things happening to my family."
Monbo W., Liberia
"Right now, our family is caught between hunger and floods — the ceaseless daily heavy downpour of rain affects our daily modes of breadwinning for our family members. Every day, we risk our health in the rain to get our daily bread. Leaders around the world need to take immediate action to address the climate crisis. The climate has changed completely against the poor and the weak."
Mehul P., India
"I live in India. There are so many families who go hungry every meal every day. It's all around me! And then there are the super rich who have excess of everything so there are restaurants that cater to such decadence and dichotomy. The government can very easily deal with food waste from restaurants, homes, and even offices and make it mandatory to preserve all unwanted and excess food and make it a criminal offense to throw food in the bin!"
Stephen M., United Kingdom
"I help run a community garden and food project, I see first hand how the hunger crisis is affecting our local communities. I also see the determination and spirit from the local people to help one another and to make sure that the most vulnerable don't go without."
Dawn R., United States
"I am a teacher, and too many of my students come in without eating breakfast in the morning, which impacts their ability to do well in school. Their breakfast should not be coming out of my small teacher's salary, but I still do it for them to succeed. Children cannot get a better life if they are unable to focus on their education."
Adulugba E., Nigeria
"The food crisis is a serious concern in Nigeria that needs urgent attention. Many families can't afford a three square meal anymore because of the high cost of food."
Jon B., United States
"As a rural farmer in the United States, we receive little to no governmental support and are always on the edge of going out of business. Meanwhile, our industry is used as tourism fodder but we see
none of the benefits of this. Farms are an integral part of every community and supporting farmers supports communities."
Dhananjay K., India
"Rural farmers are the backbone of a country's food chain. The more they are empowered, the more sustainable growth there can be."
Smith N., Nigeria
"Farmers go through a lot of challenges, because of the impact of climate change. We need to support them as much as possible. Yes, because the livelihood of a nation depends on the farmers for food production and therefore food security and sovereignty is so essential."
Laura G., Romania
"To ignore climate change is to allow hunger and death to take over us. Farmers help to provide for our immense population. To help them is to look for a better future. Climate change and hunger are serious issues we must address now."