Food Security
There are still almost one billion starving people in the world. Particular attention was therefore devoted to malnutrition and access to food both during the 2009 G8 Summit and at the meetings of the G8 Ministers of Agriculture and Development cooperation. The FAO’s latest estimates indicate that the food price crisis has increased the number of people lacking food security to over 75 million.
The G8 Leaders adopted an ad hoc statement on food security at the Toyako Summit held in 2008, not least in the wake of the FAO Summit held in June that year. The statement contains a large number of pledges to act, both in the short term in response to the emergency and in the medium to long term on the structural factors to blame for inadequate food production and mounting food insecurity.
The G8 also announced multi-year programmes to the tune of about 10 billion euros overall, to be used to fund farming projects and infrastructure required for rural development. The leaders also pledged to launch a Global Partnership on Food Security and to organise the first meeting of the G8 Agriculture Ministers, to be held in 2009. A key aspect of the partnership is the need for it to be based on the existing institutions, commencing with the United Nations facilities headquartered in Rome and availing itself also of the High-Level Task Force set up by SG Ban Ki Moon.
The partnership has been described as a crucial food security tool designed to serve three purposes: 1) keeping political attention to the issue running high, involving the private sector and civil society as well; 2) fostering the sharing of good practices among countries and 3) creating a network of experts and scientists in support of political action. It is the G8’s job to facilitate the creation of the Global Partnership, which is open to all countries willing to place the food security issue at the top of the agenda and to work together to further it.
