What We’re Reading 11/12/09

Nov 12th, 2009 10:47 AM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

AFP: Obama in 11th-hour climate bid with China, India
The AFP reports that as the Copenhagen climate summit nears, US President Barack Obama will try to salvage hopes for a deal as he meets this month with the leaders of China and India. The world’s three most populous nations have all vowed action on climate change but are deeply at odds over the shape of a Copenhagen deal, which was “meant to be a new global treaty but now looks set to offer a framework at best.” Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is optimistic about the president’s upcoming meetings, emphasizing that “If we all exert maximum effort and embrace the right blend of pragmatism and principle, I believe we can secure a strong outcome at Copenhagen.”

The Los Angeles Times: Fixing foreign aid (Editorial)
In light of President Obama’s announcement of his nominee to the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the L.A. Times editorializes about the need to reform the aid industry in the United States and their desire for the President to follow through on his promises to do so. According to the Times, our second most important means of self-defense after the military is foreign aid. “The president has a staggering to-do list, but the USAID nomination should have been made months ago, and the defects of the current system are widely known and well documented. Let’s get on with fixing it.”

Reuters India: Food summit waters down hunger, aid targets-draft
A declaration to be made at next week’s world food summit in Rome will not mention a target to eradicate hunger by 2025 nor a commitment to spend $44 billion a year in agricultural aid, according to a final draft seen by Reuters. The two targets were among the most divisive issues at the centre of pre-summit negotiations, according to diplomats. Reuters reports that world leaders and top government officials at the Nov.16-18 summit will simply reaffirm their commitment to the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of hungry people by 2015 — a target that is unlikely to be reached.

Vanguard (Nigeria): Africa: Govts Partner Alliance for Green Revolution on Food Security
Vanguard reports that a groundbreaking partnership that will link African governments’ commitment to agricultural development with concrete programs in seeds, soil health, policy, and markets was launched in Abuja, Nigeria this week between The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The two organizations will work directly with national governments and partners across the agricultural value chain in a comprehensive effort to increase the productivity of small holder farmers growing Africa’s staple food crops, with a particular focus on developing high potential breadbasket areas of African countries.

Reuters: Is Africa Selling Out Its Farmers?
Reuters explores recent efforts by the Ethiopian government to entice foreigners to invest in the nation’s underperforming agriculture sector. Many small Ethiopian farmers do not share their leaders’ enthusiasm for the policy, eyeing the outsiders “with a suspicion that has crept across Africa as millions of hectares have been placed, with varying degrees of transparency, in foreign hands.” The vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa contends that African countries should invest in their own farmers, remarking that what is needed “is a small-holder, farmer-based revolution. African land should not be up for garage sale.”

Reuters: Poor nutrition stunts growth of 200 mln children-UN
The U.N. children’s foundation UNICEF reported Wednesday that nearly 200 million children in developing countries suffer from stunted growth and health problems due to poor nutrition in their early years. Despite an overall decline in the rate of the problem, 195 million children in developing countries under 5 years old have stunted growth due to poor nutrition during the critical period between their conception and second birthdays, UNICEF said. According to the new report, when the problem is widespread, it undermines those countries’ ability to improve their economies and eradicate poverty.

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