Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

45 ZERO HUNGER SDG 2 | End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Highlights – 2020 • Cyprus faces great challenges in the area of food security and nutrition, with the overall implementation of this SDG being one of the lowest in implementation, falling to 53.88% in 2020 from the already low 55.42% in 2017. • Agricultural Production is severely affected by climate change. • Intensive cultivation results in the substantial degradation of agricultural land. • While adult obesity is consistent with EU levels, the overweight and obesity level among six to nine-year-olds is extremely high, with about 43 % of children falling in this category. Covid Response • Hunger occurred due to a decrease in income and reduced food availability, especially among the self-employed. • Poorer nutrition among children from vulnerable groups due to the interruption of the school meals Scheme. • Lower demand for food due to the disruption of the tourist sector activities. Looking Ahead • Substantial investments have been included in the RRP and the Agricultural Plan aiming to improve the uniqueness and competitiveness of the primary sector, and improving the yield, efficiency and profitability of the sector. • Efforts are being made to modernise and expand the infrastructure supporting the agriculture, farming, horticulture, and aquaculture of Cyprus. • Additional efforts to reduce agricultural contribution to greenhouse gas emissions through the development of innovative practices and an efficient monitoring system. • The Government has prepared a national plan to introduce healthy eating courses for school-aged children. EU RANK TREND MALNUTRITION Obesity Rate (Overweight: BMI ≥ 25) 8 Obesity Rate (Obese: BMI ≥ 30) 6 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION Agricultural Factor Income per Annual Work Unit 14 Government Support to Agricultural Research and Development 7 Area Under Organic Farming 20 Harmonised Risk Indicator for Pesticides 25 Gross Nutrient Balance on Agricultural Land (Nitrogen) 27 Gross Nutrient Balance on Agricultural Land (Phosphorus) 27 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION Ammonia Emissions from Agriculture 25 Nitrate (ΝO3) in Groundwater 12 Estimated Soil Erosion byWater 20 Note: Data comes from the Statistical Service of Cyprus. EU rank presents the rank of Cyprus among the EU member states, for the most recent available year. Trend presents the 10-year trend from 2010-2019. Pos, Neg, Neg-Pos, and, Pos-Neg indicate a positive, a negative, a U-shape and an inverse U-shape trend, respectively. Green arrows indicate an improvement in the performance of Cyprus and red arrows indicate a decline in the performance of Cyprus. indicates a constant trend. : indicates that the trend is not calculated, because less than 8 years of data are available.