The United Nations Commission on Population and Development (UN CPD) has called for urgent action to feed the world's growing population healthily, equitably, and sustainably.

Data from the commission's meeting on Monday revealed that another 83 to 132 million was added to the 690 million people worldwide who were already undernourished, casting doubt on the chances of meeting global targets on food security and nutrition and prompting calls for an overhaul of the world’s food systems.

During its three-day meeting from Monday to Wednesday, members of the commission will examine the interlinkages between population, food security, nutrition, and sustainable development.

The commission's debates will inform the preparations of the Food Systems Summit which will be convened by the UN secretary-general in September this year.

“Our children’s future is in peril with unsustainable food systems,” said Liu Zhenmin, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs in a press release.

“What is worse, even while wreaking havoc on the planet, our current food systems fail the hundreds of millions who still go hungry and the billions that cannot afford a healthy diet. It is time for a change,” Zhenmin added.

Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund, for her part said women and girls "eat last and least" too often.

“Even if they are pregnant or breastfeeding, with devastating effects on their health and that of their children,” said Kanem said.

“Now, what was already bad has been made worse by COVID-19. We see spikes in gender-based violence and child marriage, and women face barriers to sexual and reproductive health services. It is a crisis with a woman’s face. Yet, it also offers lessons and opportunities for building forward better and fairer for everyone,” she added.

Agnes Kalibata, UN secretary-general's special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, said the close linkages between population, food security, and nutrition demonstrate that "people lie at the heart of sustainable development and the creation of equitable food systems".

With the human population expected to climb to nearly 10 billion by the middle of this century, it will also substantially increase the demand for food, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, a UN report released ahead of the commission's annual meeting revealed.

It added the gradual aging and urbanization of the global population will also affect food demand. The different food requirements of youth and older persons, as well as the different consumption patterns of urban and rural populations, will affect minimum dietary energy requirements and the demand for various types of food.

The report estimated that around three billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet.

Over 20 percent of children under five suffer from stunting and seven percent from acute malnutrition. Meanwhile, six percent of children under five and 39 percent of adults are overweight.

It showed that only 19 percent of children aged six to 23 months eat a minimally acceptable diet worldwide, while inadequate nutrition and anemia among women of reproductive age contribute to poor health and development outcomes for mothers and children.

Unhealthy diets are now estimated to be responsible for more adult deaths and disability worldwide than tobacco use, and older persons today face heightened risks of non-communicable diseases due to poor nutrition, it added.

"Occupying 50 percent of the earth's habitable land, food production is a major driver of biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, and water scarcity," the report said. This accounts for 70 percent of freshwater consumption and produces around one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The impacts are especially severe in low- and middle-income countries, where many people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and where food security and adaptive capacity are low.

"On every continent, the prevalence of food insecurity is higher among women than men. This often occurs even in the same household and even if women are pregnant or breastfeeding. Food insecurity and malnutrition are also linked to child marriage," the report said.

The report also stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened women's vulnerabilities, undermining their access to food and disrupting important antenatal and postnatal services, including nutrition support for pregnant and lactating women.

Food scarcity and restricted mobility due to COVID-19 lockdowns have also increased the incidence of gender-based violence and child marriage and heightened the risk of sexual exploitation of women and girls.

While women comprise over 37 percent of the world’s rural workforce, a ratio that rises to 48 percent for low-income countries, they face disadvantages in access to land, inheritance, livestock, education, and financial services.

Lockdowns and other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 last year disrupted food supply chains and unleashed an economic recession with massive loss of livelihoods and reduced spending on nutritious foods.

The closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted school feeding programs for an estimated 370 million schoolchildren.

The UN report estimated that the livelihoods of about 4.5 billion people globally are tied to food systems. "With food system workers often affected by poverty and hunger, economic transformation must allow for expanded off-farm job opportunities, while improving employment conditions in the agricultural sector."

The agency also highlighted that the introduction of new agricultural technologies can raise the productivity and incomes of family farmers and help to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

Efforts to increase education, prevent child marriage, reduce adolescent pregnancy and improve nutrition and access to family planning can help reduce risks to women's and children's health, it added.

"Programs for education, social protection, food security and health care, including for sexual and reproductive health-care services, should include nutrition education and assistance," the report said.

Among factors that can also contribute to a long-term transformation of food systems include targeted social protection programs, protections for vulnerable food system workers, protections for import-dependent countries, and increased diversity and resilience of production and distribution systems as well as the temporary measures implemented during the COVID-19 crisis.