The second sustainable development goal to achieve zero hunger by 2030 might be more difficult to conquer than anticipated. The latest report by the United State states that 821 people in the world are hungry and more than 150 children are stunted.

That’s not good news but the worst part is that the number did not decline compared to previous data but has increased for a third consecutive year. According to data till 2017, one in every nine people in the world is hungry, claimed the report ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018’ released yesterday by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The report is reflective of the poor state of food security and demands urgency in achieving the primary SDG to end the world hunger. If things carry on at the same pace, we might be far away to the goal considering 2030 is just a decade away.

South America and Africa are at the top spots. Asia showed relatively good statistics with hunger seems to be slowing down significantly.

The major reasons behind the rise are climate change affecting the rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons and also an increase in the calamities such as droughts and floods together with conflicts and economic slowdowns.

“The alarming signs of increasing food insecurity and high levels of different forms of malnutrition are a clear warning that there is considerable work to be done to make sure we ‘leave no one behind’ on the road towards achieving the SDG goals on food security and improved nutrition,” the heads of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in their joint foreword to the report.

“If we are to achieve a world without hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030, it is imperative that we accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of food systems and people’s livelihoods in response to climate variability and extremes,” the leaders said.