World Summit on Food Security Set to Disappoint

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-11-16 06:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Today begins the World Summit on Food Security, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and scheduled to run through Wednesday in Rome, Italy.

The FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished in 2009, and with a world population set to reach 9 billion by 2050, the ranks of the hungry are sure to balloon unless aggressive action is taken on an international level.

Reuters reports, however, that the summit's progress will be no more than a token; there will be no deadlines or commitments to action despite the FAO's hope of gaining pledges of $44 billion a year from world leaders to help poor countries grow enough food. A draft of the declaration, Reuters says, includes a vague promise to fund more agricultural development with no specific commitments toward ending hunger.

Admittedly the problems are large and complex. The summit sets out to address key questions, specifically how to:

  • make sure the 9 billion will have food;

  • bolster governance around food security;

  • give developing counties a fair shake at competing in international trade;

  • safeguard farmers' livelihoods;

  • get public and private sectors to invest in agriculture;

  • find ways to solve food crises before they're out of control; and

  • ensure that food systems can adapt to climate change.

So while tackling all of this could be biting off more than they can chew, world leaders could at least make some concrete commitments to addressing aspects of this problem.

Humanitarian groups ActionAid and Oxfam accuse the global community of being complacent in the wake of committing $20 billion to the issue at the G-8 Summit in July. The two NGOs said in a joint statement that the "the $20 billion is a mirage" because "less than a quarter of this money is new." They also said the summit "could be a waste of time and money unless world leaders intervene now to salvage it."

Let's hope the US takes some bold move to spur more aggressive action this week, considering that President Obama, as the New York Times writes, "has made improving the productivity of farmers in the developing world a top priority since taking office." He was the one, after all, who drummed up international support for the multibillion-dollar initiative that now has everyone resting on their laurels.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Meals on Wheels: the Future of Sustainable, Ethical Meat
NEXT STORY:
Join the Social Media Day of Action to Rid Girl Scout Cookies of Forest-Destroying Palm Oil

COMMENTS (4)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.