Hunger Crisis G8 Summit 2008

African development was again the subject of G8 discussions as world leaders gathered in Toyako, Hokkaido in northern Japan from July 7-9 for the 2008 G8 Summit. While the G8 was confronted with multiple global challenges, including climate change and a weakening global economy, the 2008 Hokkaido Summit marked an important “mid point” moment in the fight against poverty. The Hokkaido Summit came at the critical halfway point to both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the G8 Gleneagles promises to Africa. The G8 are dangerously behind on their landmark commitments to the region, having delivered only $3 billion of the promised $25 billion in additional assistance to Africa by 2010, according to the 2008 DATA Report.

After difficult negotiations, the G8 summit yielded small gains for the poorest. The bulk of G8 agreements on development and Africa and food security reiterated previous pledges rather than outlining new measures to get the group back on track. The G8 did announce plans for a new effort to tackle the global food crisis, though more details are needed to ensure its effectiveness and delivery. They highlighted the UN High-level meeting on the MDGs in September as an important opportunity to review progress and identify actions needed to overcome remaining challenges.

At a time when G8 credibility is at risk due to slow progress in delivering on commitments, there was a strong call for greater accountability in the G8 Communique. The G8 agreed to track progress against previous commitments in health, education, water and agriculture, as well as its compliance with anti-corruption measures.

Overall, the US, UK and Germany provided strong leadership in negotiations and have significantly increased their funding for Africa in recent years.

After the jump, the following brief overview of outcomes for Africa from the 2008 G8 Summit.

-Ben Hubbard

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This week, while world leaders continue their emergency summit in Rome to discuss the staggering increase of food prices around the globe, Oxfam International released a plan for short and long-term responses to the crisis.

You can download their report, titled, “The Time is Now: how world leaders should respond to the food price crisis,” from their website today.

A quick outline of the brief:

1) From food prices to food crisis
2) Provide immediate aid to prevent hunger and malnutrition
3) Support agriculture
4) Stop adding fuel to the fire by pushing biofuels
5) Help poor countries get a fair deal from trade
6) Get behind a ‘new deal’ for global food and agriculture policy
7) Conclusion: the time is now.

Again, all compliments of Oxfam’s great team, but I wanted to pass it along. The food crisis is going to be around for a while and there’s a lot of good information in this report.

-Virginia Simmons

A post by Alex Evans, cross-posted from his blog Global Dashboard.

One of the catches with this week’s UN food summit is that it’s not immediately clear just what deal the various heads of state and ministers assembled here are supposed to cut – and that leaves the (hundreds of) journalists here looking for story angles. Look at some of the main issues at play in the food prices issue and you start to see their problem:

Humanitarian relief. The World Food Programme’s urgent appeal for $755m needed to keep feeding the 73 million people dependent on it for help has been making headlines all spring – but now the funding gap has been plugged, thanks to a half a billion dollar donation from Saudi Arabia.

(Incidentally, it’s a mystery on a par with the Marie Celeste as to why WFP didn’t wait until the summit to announce the cash. Here in Rome, it would have been the story from the summit. As it was, the news – announced late on a Friday afternoon – sank with hardly a trace. One leading food journalist I spoke to this morning said he didn’t get the press release until two days later. You couldn’t make it up…)

Trade. Numerous policymakers have pointed to the long term importance of trade reform, and pushing ahead with the Doha Development Round. But as far as this summit is concerned, that’s off the agenda, since the Doha Round has its own, separate, negotiations.

Changing diet patterns. The growth of a global middle class eating a grain-intensive western diet is the single biggest driver of rising prices, and as I noted in another post earlier today, it raises the awesomely complex and politically difficult question of fair shares. But there’s no chance of any substantive discussion of that here this week.

Investing in agricultural supply. Everyone agrees that a ‘new green revolution’, or whatever you want to call it, will be essential given that demand is set to rise 50% by 2030. But while the UN’s High Level Task Force sets out a strong analysis in its newly published paper on elements of a comprehensive strategy, it’s hard to see what actual deal this week’s summit could cut in this area. Admittedly, several countries are likely to announce major new funding commitments while they’re here. But the amounts will have to be very big to become the story of the week.

So what does that leave? If I worked for the UN Secretary-General, I’d be putting all of my effort into persuading one or two of the really big producers who’ve imposed export restrictions on crops – like India, Russia, Kazakhstan or Argentina – to announce an easing of those restrictions. That would mark an important step forward, and represent a triumph for the UN and its Secretary-General.

But without that, it looks like the story of the week is likely to be about biofuels – where it’s hard to see any great strides towards consensus being made here in Rome. On the contrary, with the US and Brazil defending biofuels to the hilt even as others (including FAO head Jacques Diouf) fire broadsides off against feeding crops to cars, the risk is of a damaging spat. That will make for a lively story, if it becomes the angle that journalists here go for – but could also lead to all sides entrenching their positions, which would be a Bad Thing.

-Alex Evans

The World Bank will offer $1.2 Billion UDS in food aid, setting aside grants for the countries most at risk.

From BBC News.

“It is crucial that we focus on specific action,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

“These initiatives will help address the immediate danger of hunger and malnutrition for the two billion people struggling to survive in the face of rising food prices.”>

Countries will be able to access money to provide food for schools and other core services as well as to buy essential items such as seeds and fertilizer.

UPDATE: See the WorldBank’s press release here.

Aaron taped this video of ONE CEO David Lane talking to ONE members about the world food crisis and their recent victories. Watch to learn more.

You can also check out this post to see our petition delivery to the White House last week.

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This afternoon, just hours after ONE staff dropped off a petition at the White House with nearly 120,000 signers, President Bush stood before press and TV cameras to call for $770 million in emergency food aid.

You can now see a transcript of his 3:30 PM public speech here.

Some excerpts:

In recent weeks, many have expressed concern about the significant increase in global food prices. And I share this concern. In some of the world’s poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food…

I think more needs to be done, and so today I am calling on Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support food aid and development programs. Together, this amounts to nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster global food security…

As America increases its food assistance, it’s really important that we transform the way that food aid is delivered. In my State of the Union address this year, I called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to nearly 25 percent of food assistance directly from farmers in the developing world. And the reason you do that is, in order to break the cycle of famine that we’re having to deal with too often in a modern era, it’s important to help build up local agriculture…

We believe in a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is expected. And so therefore at home we are working to ensure that the neediest among us can cope with the rising food prices. And with the new international funding I’m announcing today, we’re sending a clear message to the world: that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come.

Thank you very much for your interest. God bless.

Read the full transcript here.

-Virginia Simmons

Yesterday, World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick released a statement about Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda’s call to put the world hunger crisis on the agenda for the July G8 meeting.

“I welcome Prime Minister Fukuda’s intention to put the food crisis firmly on the agenda of the G8 summit in Japan in July, and his request that the World Bank, the United Nations, and other international institutions coordinate closely to prepare joint action. We will be pleased to support Japan as chair of the G8…

Donors must act now to support the World Food Program’s call for emergency funds to fill what is an urgent financing gap. Without this money, millions will go hungry. For them, the international system will have failed.

It will be important that as an international community we coordinate closely, minimize overlap and attack the issue from a variety of different fronts to ensure support reaches where it is needed most, and that longer-term supply issues can be fully addressed.

These short, medium and long-term issues will be a critical part of international action. But let us first raise the money to meet the most immediate needs. The world can afford this. The poor and hungry cannot.”

Read the full release on the World Banks site.

-Virginia Simmons
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Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who is chairing this year’s G8 meeting, wrote a letter to the heads of the G8 countries as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick stating that the soaring world food prices would be part of this year’s agenda.

You can read an outline of the letter.

It was copied to the World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran, Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf, International Fund for Agricultural Development President Lennart Bage, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union Alpha Oumar Konare.

In the letter, Prime Minister Fukuda states:

“Soaring food prices are posing imminent and serious global challenges. Threat of hunger and malnutrition is increasing, and the high prices have also brought about social unrest.

As the Chair of the G8, I firmly believe that this issue must be a subject of our in-depth discussions with a strong sense of urgency at the Hokkaido Toyako Summit in July. I intend to consult with my G8 colleagues, so that the G8 could collectively send a robust message.

You can read the full outline of the letter here, and more about the world crisis here.

-Virginia Simmons

Yesterday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged to set up a task force to address the world hunger crisis.

“One thing is certain, the world has consumed more than it has produced” over the last three years, he said.

Ban blamed a host of causes for the soaring cost of food, including rising oil prices, the fall of the U.S. dollar and natural disasters.

He said he would put together a special task force to help deal with the problem and called on the international community to help. He said the U.N. World Food Program plans to raise $750 million per year to help feed 73 million people in 80 countries.

“We need a real world and not the world of economic theories,” Ban said. “I will work on this right now with a sense of urgency.”

Read the full AP story here.

The shocking headlines have had our attention all week. The price of basic food staples have increased 45% in just the last nine months – and they’ve doubled in the last three years.

As we all must know – these rising prices deal a crushing blow to the world’s poorest people – people who already spend more than half of their income on food.

This weekend, World Bank President Zoellick said that this hunger crisis could “push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty” and that the effects would be equivalent of “seven lost years in the fight against worldwide poverty.”

The shortage is fueling social unrest in some of the most fragile nations around the globe. Haiti, Egypt, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mozambique, Bolivia and Uzbekistan discontent has already erupted. “For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival.”(Zoellick)

We have to do something. Please sign our petition to President Bush urging world leaders to take action.

-Virginia Simmons