As we move into the post-2015 era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world faces many seemingly intractable problems. Malnutrition should not be one of them. Countries that are determined to make rapid advances in malnutrition reduction can do so. If governments want to achieve the SDG target of ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, they have clear pathways to follow. There are many levers to pull, and this report provides many examples of countries that have done so. Tackling malnutrition effectively is also key to meeting many other SDG targets.

With one more year before the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the 2014 Global Hunger Index report offers a multifaceted overview of global hunger that brings new insights to the global debate on where to focus efforts in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The state of hunger in developing countries as a group has improved since 1990, falling by 39 percent, according to the 2014 GHI.

COMMITMENT WITHOUT FUNDING REPRESENTS UNFULFILLED GOOD INTENTIONS. IF NUTRITION-PROMOTING ACTIONS ARE TO BE IMPLEMENTED AND TARGETS MET, they need to be financed. Financing for nutrition comes from governments (domestic), from international sources—the bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and foundations that make up the “donor” community—and from people themselves.

ON JUNE 8, 2013, THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND BRAZIL, AND THE CHILDREN’S INVESTMENT FUND FOUNDATION (CIFF) HOSTED A SUMMIT IN London titled “Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science” (known as N4G). The objective of the summit was to mark a “seminal declaration by leaders to scale up political commitment, increase resources, and take urgent action on nutrition” (United Kingdom 2013, 1).

This report, 'energy efficiency: lessons learned from success stories' is designed to identify energy efficiency policies that were implemented in countries that successfully decreased their energy intensity. 

The study analyzes the energy efficiency policies in seven successful European Union countries: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

The country case studies indicate that policy implementation evolves, reflecting such issues as institutional capacity and affordability. 

[Extract from report]

A un anno dalla scadenza per il raggiungimento degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo del Millennio, fissata nel 2015, l’Indice Globale della Fame 2014 offre una prospettiva articolata del problema della fame nel mondo, che porta nuovi spunti al dibattito mondiale rispetto a dove concentrare gli sforzi nella lotta contro la fame e la malnutrizione. Secondo il GHI 2014, lo stato della fame nei Paesi in via di sviluppo è complessivamente migliorato in confronto al 1990, con un calo del 39%.

The 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report—the ninth in an annual series—presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger. It shows that the world has made progress in reducing hunger since 1990, but still has far to go, with levels of hunger remaining “alarming” or “extremely alarming” in 16 countries. This year’s report focuses on a critical aspect of hunger that is often overlooked: hidden hunger. Also known as micronutrient deficiency, hidden hunger affects more than an estimated 2 billion people globally.

After decades on the sidelines, agriculture and food security have recently found their place at the top of the global development and policy agendas. In a world where 900 million people are undernourished and 2 billion are micronutrient deficient, ensuring access to nutritious foods is critical to lifting more than 1 billion poor people out of poverty.

Scaling up actions and interventions to improve nutrition requires financial resources backed up by individual, organizational, and system capacity to plan for impact, refine interventions, and expand coverage while maintaining quality. This chapter focuses on these intertwined issues, with a strong emphasis on reducing undernutrition.

The issue of nutrition had an important moment in the spotlight in 2013. At the nutrition for growth (N4G) summit in London that year, governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations, businesses, donors, and other organizations gathered to consider how to improve nutrition worldwide. Ninety of these stakeholders signed the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, in which they publicly committed to take concrete action against malnutrition. And the momentum spread further: an additional 20 stakeholders made commitments after the compact was formulated and published.