TEHRAN (Press TV) -- The top UN official on the right to food has expressed dismay over the world hunger crisis, saying the situation may get worse if urgent action is not taken.

In a statement issued on Saturday to mark World Food Day, Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said there is “little to rejoice about” the global food situation and warned that “worse may still be ahead.”
“As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50 percent by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels,” AFP quoted him as saying.
“Current agricultural developments are… threatening the ability for our children's children to feed themselves,” Schutter said.
“A fundamental shift is urgently required if we want to celebrate World Food Day next year,” he added.
Commenting on the need to address climate change and agricultural development De Schutter stated, “To do so, we need to resist the short-termism of markets and elections. Development of longer-term strategies through inclusive and participatory processes could and should clearly identify measures needed, a clear time line, and allocation of responsibilities for action.”
“What today seems revolutionary will be achievable if it is part of a long-term, democratically developed plan, one that will allow us to develop carbon-neutral agriculture and to pursue everyone's enjoyment of the right to food through sustainable food production systems.”
On October 11, a new global hunger index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) showed that one billion people face hunger this year.
The 2010 Global Hunger Index showed there was alarming hunger in 25 out of the 122 countries surveyed.
One of the only bright spots is the fact that the number of hungry people in the world has dipped slightly from its record high last year.
Still, every six seconds a child dies of starvation.