United Nations-led talks on food security kicked off today in Rome, as a new NGO report laid out the huge problem of world hunger.

The International Food Policy Research Institute’s latest Global Hunger Index suggests that 29 countries have “alarming” or “extremely alarming” levels of hunger. It scores countries based on child mortality, the prevalence of underweight children and the proportion of the population that are undernourished.

Despite some improvement in certain countries and an overall fall in ‘hunger scores’, the world index remains categorized as ‘serious’ says the report (pdf).

Economic problems are still the major source of hunger – with countries with poor economies generally having higher scores. In Rome the UN’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is trying to tackle some of the issues underlying hunger and food supply, including land tenure, climate change and the impact of food trading markets.

The UN has been shaking up the committee to bring in more stakeholders – including for the first time NGOs and the private sector alongside government delegates.

This first meeting of the new-look committee, “will be a test for the ability of the reformed CFS to shape an international consensus on such delicate issues as land grabbing or speculation on agricultural commodities”, says Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food (press release).

Image: Global Hunger Index map from the IFPRI.