sustainable development goal 2 sustainable development goal 2 sustainable development goal 2 (sdg 2 or global goal 2) aims to achieve "zero hunger". it is one of the 17 sustainable development goals established by the united nations in 2015. the official wording is: "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". sdg 2 highlights the "complex inter-linkages between food security, nutrition, rural transformation and sustainable agriculture". according to the united nations, there are around 690 million people who are hungry, which accounts for slightly less than 10 percent of the world population. one in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, including 20 million people currently at risk of famine in south sudan, somalia, yemen and nigeria. sustainable development goal 2mission statement"end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture"commercial?notype of projectnon-profitlocationglobalfounderunited nationsestablished2015websitesdgs.un.org sdg 2 has eight targets and 14 indicators to measure progress. the five outcome targets are: ending hunger and improving access to food; ending all forms of malnutrition; agricultural productivity; sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices; and genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals; investments, research and technology. the three means of implementation targets include: addressing trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets and food commodity markets and their derivatives. under-nutrition has been on the rise since 2015, after falling for decades. this majorly results from the various stresses in food systems that include; climate shocks, the locust crisis and the covid-19 pandemic. those threats indirectly reduce the purchasing power and the capacity to produce and distribute food, which affects the most vulnerable populations and furthermore has reduced their accessibility to food. the world is not on track to achieve zero hunger by 2030. "the signs of increasing hunger and food insecurity are a warning that there is considerable work to be done to make sure the world "leaves no one behind" on the road towards a world with zero hunger." it is unlikely there will be an end to malnutrition in africa by 2030. data from 2019 showed that "globally, 1 in 9 people are undernourished, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries. under nutrition causes wasting or severe wasting of 52 million children worldwide". background kenyan health worker weighs a young kenyan boy to determine if he is malnourished in september 2015, the general assembly adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development that included 17 sustainable development goals (sdgs). building on the principle of "leaving no one behind", the new agenda emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all. in september 2019, heads of state and government came together during the sdg summit to renew their commitment to implement the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. during this event, they acknowledged some progress had been made, but that overall, "the world is not on track to deliver the sdgs". this is when "the decade of action" and "delivery for sustainable development" was launched, demanding stakeholders to speed up the process and efforts of implementation. sdg 2 aims to end all forms of malnutrition and hunger by 2030 and ensure that everyone has sufficient food throughout the year, especially children. chronic malnutrition, which affects an estimated 155 million children worldwide, also stunts children's brain and physical development and puts them at further risk of death, disease, and lack of success as adults.: 44 hungry people are less productive and easily prone to diseases. as such, they will be unable to improve their livelihood. innovations in agriculture are meant to ensure increase in food production and subsequent decrease in food loss and food waste. javanese women performing manual labor during rice plantation in indonesia a report by the international food policy research institute (ifpri) of 2013 stated that the emphasis of the sdgs should not be on ending poverty by 2030, but on eliminating hunger and under-nutrition by 2025. the assertion is based on an analysis of experiences in china, vietnam, brazil, and thailand. three pathways to achieve this were identified: 1) agriculture-led; 2) social protection- and nutrition- intervention-led; or 3) a combination of both of these approaches. targets, indicators and progress further information: list of sdg targets and indicatorsthe un has defined 8 targets and 13 indicators for sdg 2. four of them are to be achieved by the year 2030, one by the year 2020 and three have no target years. each of the targets also has one or more indicators to measure progress. in total there are fourteen indicators for sdg 2. the six targets include ending hunger and increasing access to food (2.1), ending all forms of malnutrition (2.2), agricultural productivity (2.3), sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices (2.4), genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals (2.5), investments, research and technology (2.a), trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets (2.b) and food commodity markets and their derivatives (2.c). world map for indicator 2.1.1 in 2017: share of population who are undernourished target 2.1: universal access to safe and nutritious food the first target of sdg 2 is target 2.1: "by 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round". it has two indicators: indicator 2.1.1: prevalence of undernourishment. indicator 2.1.2: prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the food insecurity experience scale (fies). food insecurity is defined by the un fao as the "situation when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life." the un's fao uses the prevalence of undernourishment as the main hunger indicator. world map for indicator 2.2.2 - share of children with a weight too low for their height (wasting) target 2.2: end all forms of malnutrition the full title of target 2.2 is: "by 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the international agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons." it has two indicators: indicator 2.2.1: prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the world health organization (who) child growth standards) among children under 5 years of age)". indicator 2.2.2: prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the who child growth standards). world map for indicator 2.2.1 in 2016: share of children who are stuntedstunted children are determined as having a height which falls below the median height-for-age of the world health organization's child growth standards. a child is defined as "wasted" if their weight-for-height is more than two standard deviations below the median of the who child growth standards. a child is defined as "overweight" if their weight-for-height is more than two standard deviations above the median of the who child growth standards. stunting is an indicator of severe malnutrition. the impacts of stunting on child development are considered to be irreversible beyond the first 1000 days of a child's life. stunting can have severe impacts on both cognitive and physical development throughout a person's life. the 2017 high-level political forum on sustainable development (hlpf) thematic review of sdg 2 reviewed progress made and predicted that there will be 130 million stunted children by 2025. currently, there are: "59 million children that are stunted in africa, 87 million in asia, 6 million in latin america, and the remaining 3 million in oceania and developed countries." more people are experiencing overweight and obesity problems in low- and middle-income countries. target 2.3: double the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers the full title for target 2.3: "by 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment". it has two indicators: agriculture value added per worker, 2017 indicator 2.3.1: the volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size. indicator 2.3.2: average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status. small-scale producers have is systematically lower production than larger food producers. in most countries, small-scale food producers earn less than half those of larger food producers. it is too early to determine the progress done on this sdg. according to statistics division of the department of economic and social affairs at the un, the share of small-scale producers among all food producers in africa, asia and latin america ranges from 40% to 85%. this target connects to sustainable development goal 5 (gender equality). according to national geographic, the pay gap between men and women in the agriculture field averages at 20-30%. when the incomes of small-scale food producers are not affected by whether the farmer is female or where they are from, farmers will be able to increase their financial stability. being more financially stable means doubling the productivity of food. closing the gender gap could feed 130 million people out of the 870 million undernourished people in the world. gender equality in agriculture is essential to helping achieve zero hunger. target 2.4: sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices sisal plantations in the outskirts of morogoro, tanzania the full title for target 2.4: "by 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality". this target has one indicator: indicator 2.4.1: proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture". world map indicator 2.5.1 - number of accessions of plant genetic resources secured in conservation facilities target 2.5: maintain the genetic diversity in food production the full title for target 2.5: "by 2020 maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed." it has two indicators: indicator 2.5.1: number of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium or long-term conservation facilities. indicator 2.5.2: proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk, not-at-risk or at the unknown level of risk of extinction. the fao's gene bank standards for plant genetic resources is the entity that sets the benchmark for scientific and technical best practices. this target is set for the year 2020, unlike most sdgs which have a target date of 2030.world map for indicator 2.5.2 in 2019 - proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk, not at risk or at unknown level of risk of extinction in 2019 target 2.a: invest in rural infrastructure, agricultural research, technology and gene banks the full title for target 2.a: "increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, and plant and livestock gene banks to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries". agriculture orientation index for government expenditures, 2015 it has two indicators: indicator 2.a.1: agriculture orientation index for government expenditures. indicator 2.a.2: total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector. the "agriculture orientation index" (aoi) for government expenditures compares the central government contribution to agriculture with the sector's contribution to gdp. an aoi larger than 1 means the agriculture section receives a higher share of government spending relative to its economic value. an aoi smaller than 1 reflects a lower orientation to agriculture.world map indicator 2.a.2 - total financial assistance and flows for agriculture by recipient target 2.b.: prevent agricultural trade restrictions, market distortions and export subsidies the full title for target 2.b: "correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent