The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Isha Outreach have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner on creating conversations, awareness, and outreach on sustainable food and nutrition security in India.
“Every responsible scientist in the world and the UN agencies are clearly saying we have 80-100 harvests left, that means approximately 45-50 years of agricultural soil left on the planet. By 2045, we will be producing 40% less food than what we are producing right now, and our population will be 9.3 billion people,” said spiritual leader and Founder of Isha Foundation, Sadhguru.
“The food shortages that could manifest in the next 25 years- the consequences of that- is unimaginable. Civil wars will unfold across the world once there is food shortage. This is not the world we want to leave behind for our children,” Sadhguru added.
The MoU was signed between WFP India Representative and Country Director Mr. Bishow Parajuli and Director Isha Outreach Ms. Moumita Sen Sarma in the national capital today.
“We are very excited about the collaboration with Isha Outreach as we are aligned on the need to create sustainable practices and approaches to addressing hunger, malnutrition, and creating long-term food security,” said Mr. Parajuli.
“Founded by Sadhguru Ji, Isha has a huge volunteer base of 11 million worldwide allowing a deep and sustained engagement on critical issues, including through its model for human empowerment and community revitalization,” he added.
The MoU will leverage the technical and global expertise of WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 for its work on addressing hunger and contributing to world peace, and Isha Outreach’s large public engagement discourses and campaigns led by Sadhguru as a spiritual guru and a global influencer.
“Through this partnership, the two organizations will also collaborate on the Conscious Planet Movement specifically in India to help address the alarming degradation of food-producing agricultural soil in this country,” said Ms. Sarma.
“This degradation of the soil has widespread ramifications spanning long term food and nutritional security of the country, climate change, water, biodiversity loss and the impoverished state of livelihood of the rural poor,” she added.
Next month, Sadhguru will unveil the global Conscious Planet Movement to Save Soil. The Save Soil Movement will advocate for urgent policy-driven action by the nations of the world to regenerate the soil in their country. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), over 90% of the earth’s soil could become degraded by 2050 leading to catastrophic crises worldwide including food and water shortages.
The MoU was signed at a conversation between Sadhguru and Mr. Parajuli on ‘One People. One Planet. One Solution – Need of the Hour’ attended by UN agencies and other dignitaries.
About Isha Outreach
Isha Outreach, a non-profit registered charitable organization in India, has been undertaking a comprehensive set of programs that inspire people to care for themselves and their communities through large-scale, sustainable, and culturally appropriate health, education, ecological, and livelihood projects.
About United Nations-World Food Programme
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children can access the nutritious food they need.
