Tackling global hunger - an urgent priority for the G8

This is a situation that urgently needs to be addressed, and the Food Ethics Council supports the Enough food for everyone IF Campaign’s demands that the G8 contribute to global efforts to tackle hunger.

We also endorse the campaign’s call for the G8 to work in partnership with others to increase investment and improve the transparency, accountability and governance of key aspects of the food system.

If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million [Source: World Food Programme].

So tackling the root causes of hunger and injustice, such as demanding accountability and transparency on tax, land ownership and budgets can make a real difference to people experiencing acute or chronic hunger on the ground.

Food Ethics Council Executive Director Dan Crossley said:

“Global leaders have a moral responsibility to use their influence to alleviate hunger and poverty and fix the global food system. The Food Ethics Council welcomes the Enough food for everyone IF Campaign’s work to ensure the G8 takes that responsibility seriously.

“We also welcome the G8’s commitment to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next ten years, through the initiative (launched at the 2012 G8 summit by Barack Obama) The New Alliance.

“We do however urge The New Alliance to ensure that it puts the interests of smallholder farmers first, listening to their views and working with them to develop the tools needed to lift them out of poverty and hunger.”

The Food Ethics Council believes that protecting smallholder farmers’ rights is fundamental to tackling global food insecurity, particularly in relation to:

• Preserving the ability of small-scale farmers in developing countries to continue to make a living from their land, by ensuring that Intellectual Property Rights regimes do not undermine traditional agricultural practices such as seed saving.
• Addressing the adverse impacts of international trade laws and agreements on smallholder farmers’ access to global markets, and on the ability of poor countries to protect their domestic markets from subsidised imports.
• Enhancing the land tenure rights of small-scale farmers, by improving the governance of large-scale land acquisitions, and ensuring full compliance with the UN Voluntary Guidelines on land tenure.

The Food Ethics Council works in the UK and global policy arenas to create a fair food system, where everyone eats healthily and sustainably, and enjoys food that is produced and traded fairly and humanely.

Notes to editors

1. Enough food for everyone IF is a campaign designed to focus attention on global hunger in the run up to and during the 2013 G8 summit in the UK. http://enoughfoodif.org/home
2. The Food Ethics Council is a charity whose aim is to create a food system that is fair and healthy for people, planet and animals. Our 14 council members are all leaders in the spheres of food and farming, and appointed as individuals. They bring a broad range of expertise to our work, from academic research through to practical knowledge of farming, business and policy.