World Food Day is celebrated on October 16, a date established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in order to raise awareness and sensitize about the need to reduce hunger in the world and value the resources that nature offers us as a provider of food. This year, under the slogan “The right to food for a better life and future“, the focus is on food as a human right, recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and two international conventions. The campaign aims to raise awareness around the world about the need for all people to have access to a variety of nutritious, affordable, accessible, safe and sustainable food. Food is the third most basic human need after air and water. However, not everyone has access to the food they need to live a healthy life. Despite the fact that enough food is produced around the world to feed more people than the existing world population, hunger persists. According to FAO data, around 733 million people suffer from hunger, mainly due to conflicts, weather crises, inequalities and economic recessions. In addition, more than 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Unhealthy diets are the main cause of all forms of malnutrition: malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency and obesity, which now exist in most countries and affect all socio-economic classes. That is, almost half of the world’s population today is not getting the nutrients they need to grow and, in some cases, to survive. Current agrifood systems, as a whole, are vulnerable to disasters and crises, in particular the consequences of climate change, but at the same time they generate pollution, degrade soil, water and air, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. According to WWF’s Food Puzzle report, the current food system causes 80% of biodiversity loss and almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, 40% of the land and 70% of the available water is used for food production. For this reason, FAO points to the importance of transforming agri-food systems to ensure that our food is not only abundant and affordable, but also diverse and nutritious. In this context, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, supports transformative projects, which seek to contribute to sustainable production applied in various food sectors. This is the case of projects such as BARBANZA ECOSOCIAL, led by the RIA Foundation, which seeks to promote a transition towards environmental sustainability and strengthen resilience in the management of the Barbanza mountains (Galicia).

Its focus includes the processing and marketing of food products through the creation of a specialized center and the development of agri-food networks. In addition, the project promotes the diversification of forest uses, recovering degraded areas and improving their productivity. For its part, the Forgotten Plants project, coordinated by the Eixarcolant SCCL Cooperative, focuses on the revaluation of forest foods as a tool for sustainable management of the territory. With a presence in various autonomous communities, this project seeks to generate, apply and transfer knowledge on forest management, promoting conservation, resilience and a bioeconomy based on edible plants. Her work focuses on the creation of new gastronomic products from wild fruits, the implementation of forest management models in pilot plots and the development of valorisation and marketing strategies. The main objective is to demonstrate how local economy can be generated, while promoting biodiversity and the resilience of forest ecosystems. In Aragon, the Centre for Agri-Food Research and Technology (CITA) is leading the FUNGIVERSO project, which aims to sustainably manage fungal biodiversity as a source of ecosystem services in rural areas. This project, which covers the entire region, seeks to structure and strengthen the mycological sector by accompanying owners, managers, users and entrepreneurs in the creation of Mycological Parks based on a scientific and sustainable model. FUNGIVERSO promotes the resilience of the ecosystem, promotes quality mycotourism, encourages the creation of new sustainable and inclusive businesses and favors the exchange of good practices and social awareness.