This year’s celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of Brazil-UK relations happens at a time of unique convergence between the two countries. It also comes amidst much disruption and uncertainty in global diplomacy. The two countries must seize this moment and work together on three priorities related to the G20 Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, in order to make progress on two of the most pressing and interlocked crises of our time—hunger and climate change.
Last week, the British Foreign Policy Group hosted a conversation with the Ambassador of Brazil, His Excellency Mr Antônio de Aguiar Patriota and UK-based policymakers, business- and thought-leaders, with interest in the region and the bilateral relationship. The conversation centred on how Brazil is positioning its role in the world, the future of UK-Brazilian relations, and the role that the UK can play in advancing Brazil’s international objectives.
Brazil hosting BRICS+ and COP30
The Ambassador outlined Brazil’s foreign policy, its key achievements in 2024 and major events Brazil is hosting this year, including the next BRICS+ Summit and the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). These are frantic times for Brazilian diplomats, reflecting President Lula da Silva’s standing in global affairs. Brazil’s foreign policy with an unyielding commitment to world peace, human rights and justice, including its recognition of the state of Palestine, offers glimmers of hope at this dark juncture.
Amid discussions on various pressing issues, including the contentious topics of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and BRICS enlargement, the Ambassador highlighted a more positive development—the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty—as a key achievement of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
While last year’s G20 Summit was overshadowed by the US election results and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, it made progress on a range of significant issues for which Brazil may not have been given enough credit for. This includes making a commitment to progressive taxation of the ultra-wealthy and to place social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty at the forefront of the G20 agenda. These are no minor accomplishments for a global intergovernmental forum traditionally concerned with international finance, trade and governance.
The G20 Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty—the promise
The launch of this global initiative was one of three priorities of the Brazilian G20 Presidency. There is no world leader better suited than President Lula to drive such agenda, given his longstanding personal commitment to fighting hunger at home and his proven track record of delivering on his promises.
The Alliance aims to eradicate hunger and poverty, reduce inequalities, and strengthen global partnerships for inclusive development. It created a ‘policy basket’ comprising government-led interventions deemed successful and is pursuing funding to implement these within the G20 and in cooperation with other ODA-recipient countries. It also aims to leverage knowledge to refine the policy basket and foster international sharing and learning.
While the effort is not new, and its alignment with existing global spaces such as the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) must be guaranteed, its significance lies in giving a boost to international cooperation, policy dialogue and knowledge sharing on how to address hunger. It is also drawing attention to South-to-South cooperation and South-to-North learning—issues for which Brazil has long been a strong advocate.
Hunger as a shared problem
The UK has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Global Alliance initiative, and the Brazilian Ambassador commended the UK government’s forceful presence at the G20 Summit. Both countries have good reasons to make hunger not just an international but a national priority too.
In Brazil, between 2019 and 2022, severe food and nutritional insecurity re-emerged and the country re-entered the world hunger map. Our Brazilian partners at the Food Equity Centre were at the forefront of revealing this bleak picture at a time when the Brazilian government had turned a blind eye on the problem and reversed many policies and initiatives that had been proven successful. This included cuts to the Food Acquisition Programme, a public procurement scheme linked to school meals, and the dismantling of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA). While progress has since been made, this serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of public policy and the ever-present threat of hunger.
During the last few years, particularly since the pandemic, hunger has become a concerning issue in the UK, with dramatic increases in food insecurity, and exponential growth in demand for food assistance and free school meals. In the words of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the UK has become a food bank nation.
The Food Foundation estimates that 7.2 million adults (13.6% of households) experienced food insecurity in June 2024. Although there are some signs of improvement, the need for emergency food support remains persistently high according to the Trussell Trust, a leading network of UK food banks. The cost-of-living crisis and high food prices are a concern—food inflation stands at 2% despite overall inflation falling.
Three priorities for a meaningful strategic partnership against hunger
The Alliance offers an opportunity for Brazil and the UK to strengthen their strategic partnership with meaningful action. Here are three suggested priorities for the year ahead:
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Ensure that the global fight against hunger remains top of the list during South Africa’s Presidency
As South Africa takes on the G20 Presidency, Brazil and the UK must work together to ensure hunger remains top of the agenda. So far it is unclear this will be the case. Yet, hunger shockingly remains an outstanding development challenge and is also widespread in South Africa where it is deeply connected to racial inequalities. The South African Presidency has an opportunity to make a difference and be the champion for the much needed radical action. The time for advancing progressive policies within the G20 is now, ahead of a potential turning point when the US assumes the G20 Presidency in 2026.
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Strengthen UK-Brazil bilateral and trilateral development cooperation around hunger
The two countries have much to contribute in terms of public policy as well as civil society driven innovations to fight hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, from sugar tax, to free school meals, to social supermarkets and community kitchens. Harvesting this knowledge, fostering mutual learning, and sharing with other countries must start now and build on lessons learned from previous international cooperation experience, including Brazil’s own.
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Ensure that action on hunger is aligned with action on climate (and the issue of affordability of environmentally sound food)
With Brazil preparing to host COP30, now is the perfect moment to link global efforts to combat hunger with the climate agenda, ensuring that food systems—marked by persistent inequities and unsustainable practices—take centre stage in the climate debate. Addressing hunger and climate change must go hand in hand, but this requires navigating multiple complex challenges that demand open and thorough debate.
One such challenge concerns food prices and the affordability of food that is produced in an environmentally responsible manner—what are climate sound and socially just prices for those producers and consumers that are at the margins of the food system? Aligning hunger and climate action is a massive agenda for research and policy—one that the Brazil-UK partnership is now uniquely positioned to champion.
We look forward to continuing the discussion about how Brazil, the UK and South Africa can work together to achieve G20 ambitions to tackle inequality, hunger and poverty during further events this year, including at a roundtable hosted by IDS and NEF on 4 February.
