New York, June 23 – The group of seven most industrialized countries in the world has been asked to take swift and decisive action to avert a global food and nutrition crisis as severe floodings and heatwaves, the pandemic and Russia’s destructive war in Ukraine are worsening living conditions for millions of people.
A coalition of organizations and individuals, #HungryForAction #GoodFood4AllNOW, has sent an open letter to G7, which is composed of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada, demanding that it must act now to prevent a global food crisis and secure a sustainable future for people and the planet.
The coalition said the open letter has been coordinated by the UN’s SDG2 Advocacy Hub, which brings together NGOs, agricultural networks, nutritionists, campaigners, civil society, the private sector and UN agencies to co-ordinate advocacy efforts and achieve Good Food For All by 2030.
For more information: https://sdg2advocacyhub.org/actions/urgent-action-needed-prevent-global-food-nutrition
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, said: “Low and lower-middle-income countries’ resources, especially in Africa, are being depleted by crisis upon crisis. We need swift and decisive leadership to tackle their increasing vulnerability to climate shocks and to invest in agricultural adaptation. G7 leaders must act now to help smallholder farmers become climate-resilient, build sustainable food systems, and fund a secure future for people, planet and prosperity.”
Catherine Bertini, Executive Director (1992-2002) of the UN’s World Food Program and 2003 World Food Prize Laureate, said: “The worsening of the global hunger and malnutrition crisis is not inevitable. It can be averted with swift, decisive and visionary leadership. My expectation is that the G7 leaders will act with urgency to address the cost of living crisis, strengthen global food systems and finance safety nets for the most vulnerable
Open letter
G7 must act now to prevent a global food & nutrition crisis and secure a sustainable future for people and the planet
Without action, hundreds of millions will be pushed into poverty and are at risk of being malnourished. But a global hunger and malnutrition crisis is not inevitable. It can be averted with swift, decisive and visionary leadership. In tackling today’s emergency, we must also reduce the likelihood of future crises, making food systems more resilient by investing in a safe climate and healthy natural systems and resources, upon which future food security depends. The G7 must act with urgency on immediate, near- and long-term solutions that save lives and prevent future crises.
Save Lives Now: 276 million people face acute food insecurity. COVID-19 could result in 13.6 million more children wasted by 2022, up 30 percent compared to three years ago. The G7 should mount an urgent response to the humanitarian crisis including investing in social protection interventions to prevent vulnerable households from being pushed further into extreme poverty.
This response should include:
1. Support WFP’s $21.5 billion requirement to reach 147 million people in 2022, which includes $1.6 billion to provide additional services to 30 million of the most vulnerable children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in need of malnutrition prevention and treatment services, and the UN’s $4.4 billion appeal for the Horn of Africa.
2. Provide an immediate package of support to relevant UN agencies and civil society actors so they can scale-up essential nutrition services in countries with the highest burden of malnutrition, including lifesaving nutrition products like ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) used to prevent and treat child malnutrition. This should allocate at least $1.2 billion to UNICEF, including dedicated funding for The Nutrition Fund.
3. Secure the release of grain and fertilizer from the port of Odessa, commit to resisting export bans and ensure in-donor refugee costs associated with the Ukraine crisis are additional to ODA.
Build Resilience Now: A 1% rise in global food prices tips another 10 million people into extreme poverty. As food prices spiral upwards, low income households cut back on nutritious foods, forgo meals, reduce essential spending and sell off assets. Averting these impossible decisions will be much cheaper in the long run, whilst significantly improving outcomes for people and the planet in the medium term by investing in programmes to reduce food waste and tackle unhealthy, unsustainable diets.
The G7 should invest in a resilience package that includes:
1. Provide $10 million to FAO to assess the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food insecurity and access to food in 50 countries in 2022/2023, using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) measurement system.
2. Commit $1.5 billion to GAFSP to help smallholder farmers boost production and support nutritious food production.
3. Contribute $500 million to IFAD’s Crisis Response Initiative to protect and boost sustainable agricultural production.
4. Invest at least $360 million in nutrition through the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents.
5. Stop using food for fuel: roll back biofuel mandates, with a commitment to cut mandates now by 50%.
6. Ensure access to and affordability of fertilizer now to ensure sustained production in Africa and South Asia while increasing investment in greener fertilizer and more efficient fertilizer use.
7. Provide $39 million to FAO to support 52 countries vulnerable to the current crisis to identify policies and interventions to address food loss and waste over 3 years (2022-2024).
8. Invest $200 million in the African Development Bank’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility to support 20 million farmers.
Fund the Future Now: Low and lower-middle income countries’ resilience is being depleted by these recurrent crises and are increasingly vulnerable to debt defaults and climate shocks. A G7 Marshall Plan is needed to mobilize trillions in sustainable investments to narrow the gap to a 1.5-degree pathway. A seven-fold increase in investment for renewables is needed by 2030 in developing economies.
The G7 should commit to:
1. Double climate adaptation finance, including support for smallholder producers through IFAD’s ASAP+, whilst meeting the promise of $100 billion in climate finance each year; and support the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance facility.
2. Reallocate at least $100 billion in SDRs to the IMF and through MDBs and IFAD; direct the World Bank to go beyond the additional commitment of $12 billion over 15 months to respond to the food security crisis; and lead on debt relief.
3. Invest $2.3 billion annually to scale up evidence-based nutrition interventions as outlined in the Nutrition Investment Framework.
The Global Alliance for Food & Nutrition Security (GAFNS; “nutrition” should to be added to the Alliance’s title to emphasis the comprehensiveness of the package) should provide a platform to meaningfully engage governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America, smallholder farmers, academics and civil society to work together on agricultural development, health and nutrition, and climate. It should mobilize financing for small-scale producers’ and civil society organizations with a proven track record of delivering efficient and targeted programs and interventions.
Following are organizations and individuals
#HungryForAction
Alliance to End Hunger; Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens; Bread For The World; Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; EAT Foundation; Eleanor Crook Foundation; Global Citizen; International Fertilizer Development Center; Micronutrient Forum; ONE Campaign; ONE Campaign Germany; ONE Camapign USA; One Acre Fund; Open Society Foundations; Power of Nutrition; Sanku – Project Healthy Children; Save the Children; Standing Together for Nutrition; Tailored Food; World Business Council for Sustainable Development; World Vision Network; Gerda Verburg, UN Assistant Secretary General and Coordinator of the SUN Movement; Jamie Drummond, Co-Founder of Sharing Strategies & the ONE Campaign; Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of WFP and 2003 World Food Prize Laureate
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