G8 Leaders Called on to Address Hunger, Poverty – At the L’Aquila Summit in 2009, G8 leaders pledged $22 billion over three years to improve agriculture and bolster food security in response to the 2008 food crisis. Leading humanitarian organizations are now calling on “G8 leaders to make food security and poverty top priorities at their upcoming summit.” For anti-poverty advocates, the key question is whether “President Obama and other G8 leaders step up and agree to a bold new deal to fight hunger and malnutrition.” Tom Hart from ONE is “critical of what’s been done since the L’Aquila Summit,” describing the results as lackluster. (VOA, Joe DeCapua)
International Finance Corp., MasterCard working together to expand microfinancing in Africa – Officials announced Monday that the International Finance Corp will partner with the MasterCard Foundation to spend $37.4 million over five years to support banks and other institutions across Africa that provide small loans, as part of the IFC’s largest project with a private foundation. Microfinancing allows people to lift themselves out of poverty by starting small business, sending their children to school, or buying fertilizer for subsistence farms. (AP)
Hollande Ousts Sarkozy in French Presidential Election – François Hollande narrowly defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in the French Presidential elections on Sunday, “becoming the first Socialist elected president of France since François Mitterrand.” Sarkozy became the “latest European leader to lose his post amid economic upheaval and the first French incumbent to be rejected since 1981.” For the French, Hollande’s victory is “a leap of faith that shows there is a strong will for a different policy course.” (NYTimes, Steven Erlanger)
The Upside of Frankenfood: Can GM Crops Reduce Global Food Insecurity? – By 2050, the world will have another two billion mouths to feed and will face an estimated 70 percent increase in global food demand. Another Green Revolution is needed to increase agricultural productivity in Africa, to improve farmer training, fertilization and irrigation. Genetically modified crops could be part of the solution to producing enough food to meet global food needs, but “protecting the interests of and giving voice to the world’s poor is essential to implementing GM crops successfully.” (The Atlantic, Isobel Coleman)
