International Youth Day 2021
The current COVID epidemic has caused disruptions in the global food system. Food Security, whether urban or rural, has faltered. Last year alone, 320 million additional people lacked access to adequate food. And today almost 2.37 billion people, or 30% of the world’s population, face inadequate food security. This in turn is aggravating other problems plaguing our world today, including climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality and conflict.
Solutions to addressing these, particularly by focussing on Food Security, is being continually fostered by the Youth. Food Security initiatives will transform Food Systems through ingenuity, altruism and enthusiasm accentuated by Innovation which can serve as a catalyst to improve the Human and Planetary Health needed in these times.
We can look for successful Youth Innovations examples in Food Security. One can take the case of YouTube star Narayan Lal Dhakar, a 20 year old farmer and tertiary student in rural India, who augmented his crop yields by using a candlelight oil can device in his farm fields that warded off nilgai antelope and insects that were feeding off the crops. It is thanks to Lal Dhakar’s invention that more crops on his farm are now able to be grown and distributed to feed countless more lives. His invention also assisted improving his and his mother’s income levels and wellbeing. This is a quintessential instance of how a Youth Innovation initiative has been integral in transforming food systems and in turn ameliorating Human and Planetary Health.
International Youth Day (IYD) for 2021 is an occasion for not only recognising these aforementioned issues but also bringing to awareness and celebrating these Youth Innovations that are tackling them. Our world will become a far better place.
- Kunal Kirpalani, Sydney (Australia), Urban Economy Forum (UEF)