What We’re Reading 11/17/09

Nov 17th, 2009 12:00 PM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

Irish Times: Over one billion go hungry every day, summit told
Speaking in Rome last night, the United Nations’ secretary general Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern that even though the world has “more than enough” food, just over a billion people still go hungry. Mr Ban defended the work done by the summit, arguing that it represented a positive step on the road to next month’s Copenhagen summit on climate change. He also argued that the two summits, in Rome and Copenhagen, were linked and could still “lay the ground for food security for all”. In reference to the UN summit in Copenhagen, Mr Ban refused to be pessimistic, saying that “we still have everything to play for”.

The Globe and Mail: Canada pushes wealthy nations to keep food aid pledges
The Globe and Mail reports that Canada is using the UN food summit to put flesh on its new agricultural-spending commitments in “an effort to embarrass other wealthy countries to do the same as a record one billion people go hungry.” Declaring the world is on the verge of another food “crisis,” the Canadian Minister for International Co-operation and the ranking Canadian delegate at the summit, said the spending details are designed “to encourage people that when you pledge, when you make those commitments, it’s important to fulfill those commitments.”

Reuters: Gaddafi asks food summit to stop Africa “landgrab”
Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi called for an end to the purchase of African farmland by food-importing nations at a U.N. hunger summit on Monday, describing it as “new feudalism.” The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) plans to draw up guidelines to try to safeguard the sometimes conflicting interests of local farmers and investors for the governance of land and other natural resources, and is consulting companies, farmers and independent experts. Argued Gaddafi, “Rich countries are now buying the land in Africa. They are cheating African people out of their rights.

Financial Times: UN links climate with hunger
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon warned that the world cannot achieve food security without first tackling global warming, emphasizing that failure at next month’s international climate change negotiations in Copenhagan would result in a rise in hunger. According to the Financial Times, Mr Ban’s comments at the UN Food Summit in Rome this week signal how leaders are grappling with the need to respond coherently – and simultaneously – to energy, food and climate challenges. Said Mr. Ban, “There cannot be food security without climate security. Today’s event (the food summit) is critical and so is Copenhagen.”

New York Times: Disagreement Over Goals at U.N. Meeting on Hunger
The New York Times reports that the United Nations summit meeting on combating hunger in Rome this week underscored the split between rich and poor countries on the issue. Sixty leaders attended the meeting, but apart from the Prime Minister of Italy, there were no leaders from the wealthiest nations. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization had hoped the meeting would set an agriculture aid target toward helping farmers in poorer countries, however, the Times reports that “richer nations succeeded in removing a goal to end world hunger by 2025 and declined to commit to increasing agricultural aid to nearly 20 percent of all international development aid.

The Times: We can feed the world despite global warming, says Pope Benedict
In a speech to the opening day of the three day World Summit on Food Security, Pope Benedict XVI argued that “the Earth can sufficiently feed all of its inhabitants” despite the “devastation” caused by global warming, and blamed the “greed” of speculators in cereals markets for aggravating world hunger. The Pope also criticized “those forms of aid that do grave damage to the agricultural sector” and approaches to food production that are geared solely towards consumption and lack a wider perspective. And while he insisted that his remarks in no way indicate the church taking a political stance, he also warned against resignation or indifference towards the problem of world hunger.

The Citizen (Tanzania): Hindrances to Africa’s development cited
Founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Dr Mo Ibrahim, said on Saturday at a cultural celebration organized by the Foundation that time has came for Africa to stop blaming the colonial past and take full responsibility for their future. Ibrahim also cited the lack of political governance as the major stumbling block on Africa’s progress and fair sharing of resources. “Africa is a very wonderful and rich continent, but yet we are poor and hungry. The problem with us is political governance. We have abundant natural resources but our resources are not exploited for the benefit of our people,” he said.

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