G8 Makes Progress on Ending Hunger but More is Required
ActionAid praises world leaders who met at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy for making strides towards the goal of ending hunger, but the G8 must consider new solutions to the global food and climate crises. World leaders need to find $23 billion a year to keep their previous promises to halve hunger by 2015 — more than triple what the G8 leaders have pledged.
“The G8’s announcement of $20 billion over three years is a welcome step in the right direction to get food on the table for the one billion hungry, but it’s not enough to feed them all,” said Otive Igbuzor, Head of ActionAid’s HungerFREE Campaign.
In order to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015, the G8 must commit $23 billion per year by 2012
“This takes the G8 much closer over the next few years, but there still is a way to go,” said Igbuzor.
There are now more than 1 billion hungry people in the world. ActionAid research shows that the trends responsible for pushing the number above one billion are set to worsen unless G8 leaders take bold action to revive developing world agriculture and reverse global warming. Food prices are still on the increase in many developing countries while crop yields are stagnant. Rising unemployment and falling incomes as a result of the global recession compound the growing hunger crisis.
“The G8 is failing over 1 billion hungry people,” said Angela Wauye, food rights coordinator at ActionAid Kenya. “In 2008 they made commitments to tackle the food crisis, but since last year the number of hungry people has risen by 100 million. Poor people cannot eat promises.”
France has emerged as the champion of current spending on aid to combat hunger while Italy — the current G8 chair — languishes at the bottom, spending 70 percent below target.
ActionAid’s research shows that the United Kingdom is in second place in the fight against hunger, with Germany third, Japan fourth, Canada fifth, the United States sixth and Italy in last place.
