Goal #2
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
UNSW is committed to this goal and demonstrates its commitment through:
- Research driving innovation in food production
- Education that is training a new generation of agrifood industry professionals
- Supporting UNSW students experiencing food insecurity
- External leadership working together on projects worldwide to improve food and income security
Why is achieving zero hunger so important?
As of 2021, there are between 702 and 828 million people in the world facing hunger, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation. Hunger originates from inaccessibility to clean, safe and nutritious food all year round, leading to food insecurity. This situation is dependent on geography and economics and disproportionately affects the vulnerable. However, hunger is not just limited to countries which lack economic resources. It’s estimated that 3.6 million Australians (15%) experienced food insecurity at least once in 2021. Poverty is at the core of all hunger (Goal #1) and the problem of hunger is likely to increase in future due to climate change and population growth.
UNSW Urban Growers
A cross-faculty working group of staff and students dedicated to creating food growing space on campus for local food production, hands-on practical classes, restorative community action and opportunities for food related research. Food growing is incorporated into a range of courses at UNSW including urban agriculture, intellectual property, food security, art and design, environmental humanities, biology, ecology and public health nutrition.
40,000 visits to Food Hub in 2022
Arc Food Hub provides groceries to UNSW students experiencing food insecurity. It operates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday providing 150 hampers each day, and there is a 24 hour food pantry where students can access healthy food basics outside of hours.
Premises on campus is provided by UNSW Estate Management and delivery is enabled by donations such as volunteering, community building and sustainability initiatives through partnerships across the university. This service saw over 12,520+ meals provided in 2022.
The Producers
The Producers are a volunteer-based group dedicated to planting, maintaining and harvesting produce, and promote sustainability on campus.
They look after the Urban Garden at the Village Green, a community-run garden where the UNSW community grow fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Good Food Charter
The Good Food Charter supports the UNSW community of students, staff, retailers and catering services to select healthier food and drink options. It has been developed by the UNSW Health Promotions Unit, UNSW Wellbeing, The George Institute for Global Health, Estate Management and Arc Student Life
Staff Hardship Fund
UNSW has a dedicated Staff Hardship Fund. Financial assistance can be granted to assist with immediate and essential expenses including bills or rent, temporary accommodation or food insecurity.
UNSW Institute for Global Development
The UNSW Institute for Global Development and its collaborators lead projects to improve food and income security, creating livelihood options and build technical and farming capacity for local farmers.
UNSW is a research partner of the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre
The Centre is committed to bringing Australia into a new era of high technology food production, transforming one of our most important industries and reinforcing our place as a major world food producer.
Improving technologies for inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea
The improving technologies for aquaculture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) project, led by Associate Professor Jes Sammut from UNSW Science, ran from May 2015 to May 2021. A/Prof Sammut has worked in the Asia-Pacific Region for over 25 years with a focus on improving aquaculture to increase fish, shrimp and lobster production.
In 2023, A/Prof Jes Sammut received more than $2.6 million from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research for a project that will build on previous work to improve fish farming in PNG.
Passionate about providing sustainable livelihoods to people across the Asia-Pacific, Jes is actively engaged in a range of aquaculture initiatives from Vietnam to PNG, which have proved transformative in solving issues of malnutrition, and economic hardship, as well as sustaining positive social impact.
The Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP)
Aims to increase the awareness of new and existing support services available to students including financial hardship support and assistance. The FIAP focuses on areas including: providing products and services that provide financial education, support to all students and assistance to those facing financial hardship.
UNSW Environmental Sustainability Report
UNSW has a history of environmental stewardship across research, learning & teaching and campus operations across several decades. The Environmental Sustainability Report 2022 measures and outlines our achievements to date.
UNSW Chemical Engineering Food and Health Cluster
The Food and Health Cluster is committed to driving innovation in the interconnected research areas of health, food process engineering and sustainability and leading researchers are delivering real-world impact in Food Science, Nutrition and Engineering.
The Future of Food
In this talk, food and health expert Johannes le Coutre joins journalist Joanna Savill as they explore the future of food. As we take our first tentative steps into the paradigm shifting world of lab-grown and no-kill meat, will 21st century science save the day, or are the solutions to our biggest problems a combination of the old and the new?
Community Food Gardens
This UNSW Global Water Institute and Yuwaya Ngarra-li partnership collaborates with Dharriwaa Elders Group and Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service on community gardens, among other initiatives for the community, to develop food security knowledge and skills and access to technology to enhance food production by the local Aboriginal community.
Towards Zero Hunger
When UNSW's Jes Sammut helped to start a fish farming research project in the remote PNG highlands, the hope was to improve the nutrition of the locals. Since then, the number of fish farms has increased from 11,000 to over 60,000 and the research is revealing a suite of social and economic benefits.
UNSW Sustainable Development Goals 2022 Report
This report outlines UNSW's performance against the SDGs in 2022.
