For 2016 World Food Day the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is asking the world’s children to help it highlight how climate change is making the task of feeding a growing world population more challenging.
Through its new global video and poster contest launched this week, the FAO is also asking children what they suggest be done to help meet that taxing challenge.
The number of people on the planet is expected to grow to over nine billion by 2050.
The FAO estimates that global food production will need to increase by 60% to keep up with all the new mouths to feed.
At the same time, the world’s small scale and family farmers are among those hit hardest by higher temperatures, droughts, and weather-related disasters associated with climate change.
That’s why FAO picked “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must change too,” as the theme of World Food Day 2016 (WFD 2016), which will be celebrated on 16 October.
FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of Organization in 1945.
Events are organized in over 150 countries across the world, making it one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar.
The FAO said the World Food Day poster and video contest aims to give children an opportunity to explore this theme and express their ideas about the relationship between climate change, the food we eat, and the causes of hunger.
Children and teens aged 5 to 19 are encouraged to learn about the WFD 2016 theme and use their imagination to digitally design, draw or paint a poster that explores it.
Alternatively, young people aged 13 to 19 can produce a video no longer than one minute, and upload it to YouTube with the hashtag #WFD2016VideoContest.
The deadline for entries is 30 September 2016.
To learn more about the rules of the contest and how to participate, visit the World Food Day 2016 poster and video contest page www.fao.org/WFD2016-Contest.