Commission launches #KnowledgeCentre to fight malnutrition

The European Commission has launched a new Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security. This Knowledge Centre, led by the Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre, will act as a reference point for scientific data supporting the EU's global commitment to end hunger, guarantee food security and improve nutrition levels in third countries where people lack access to sufficient affordable and nutritious food.

Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, who is responsible for the Joint Research Centre, will launch the new Knowledge Centre in Brussels in the presence of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Commissioner Christos Stylianides and Agriculture and Rural Development Commmissioner Phil Hogan.

Commissioner Navracsics said: "To end hunger and fight malnutrition, we need to do more together, using the very best knowledge at our disposal within the Commission and beyond. In most cases, we are not short of data or information – rather, the challenge is making sense of the unprecedented volume of knowledge we have. The Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security will help identify where crucial information and knowledge gaps exist, and indicate how to fill them."

The Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security will:

• Make information and tools available to policymakers and stakeholders including NGOs or journalists through a user-friendly web platform;
• identify priority topics for European Commission action based on scientific knowledge;
• identify horizontal synergies within the Commission and with external partners;
• promote the European Commission's role in generating new relevant knowledge, in particular through the African Union-European Union high-level policy dialogue on science, technology and innovation, and;
• support initiatives of the main international food and nutrition security agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization or the World Food Programme.

The Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security will produce briefings, interactive maps, databases and regular reports, and will make this information publicly accessible. The Knowledge Centre will be fully funded by the European Commission.

Background

According to the Global Report on Food Crises, published in March this year, in 2017 one in niine people in the world were undernourished. Due to conflicts and political or economic insecurity, sometimes coupled with extreme climatic events, the number of people affected by food crises has grown since 2016, and reached a staggering 124 million people in 2017. The Global Report on Food Crises highlighted the risk of more acute, persistent and complex food crises in the future.

Implement a long-term strategy that integrates humanitarian aid, development assistance and support for peace-building, the EU supports measures to improve food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in over 60 partner countries. Between 2014 and 2020, the EU will provide around €8.5 billion in funding for these activities.

The Joint Research Centre coordinates knowledge and competence centres, processing science-based evidence to inform policy-makers and providing tools and services for all EU policy areas. The Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security is the sixth to be launched under the leadership of the Joint Research Centre after those on the Bioeconomy, Territorial Policies, Migration and Demography, Disaster Risk Management and Food Fraud and Quality.

More information

Factsheet on the Joint Research Centre