Today, more people in the world are undernourished than in the year of the first G20 meeting, even though solutions exist to prevent hunger and malnutrition. This must change. FeedinG20, a coalition of major international NGOs (ACF International, CARE International, Helen Keller International, Oxfam and World Vision International) has developed a set of 7 recommendations to address this problem. The plan is being made public on September 15th in Paris, on the eve of the meeting of the G20 Development Working Group on September 18-21.

FeedinG20 urges the G20 leaders consider these recommendations and take bold action to end hunger and malnutrition once and for all.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To learn more about each recommendation and our call to action, go to: www.feedinG20.org

Specifically, the FeedinG20 coalition is asking G-20 leaders to:

1. Ensure food security, agriculture and development policies include nutrition outcomes as a primary objective, particularly for those who need it most—women and children.

   Strengthening the ability of the population to produce nutritious food for themselves, through “nutrition-specific” interventions and “nutrition-sensitive” investments, is paramount. This can be achieved, for instance, by supporting smallholders to produce a wider variety of crops.

   Supporting these nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific measures could prevent millions of child deaths each year. The economic returns on these investments are expected to far exceed the costs. Evidence suggests investments in the nutrition of children under two can increase GDP growth by at least 2-3%.

2. Fulfill current funding pledges, including $22 billion pledged for food security at the 2009 G-8 Summit. Investments in small-scale, sustainable agriculture—particularly with women farmers—must be increased.

   Less than a quarter of the $22 billion pledged for farming and food security at the 2009 Aquila G8 summit has been delivered, with just one year to go until the deadline. Although the L’Aquila Joint Statement rightly placed emphasis on the need to support more sustainable agriculture and smallholders, in particular women, it is unclear how much focus there has actually been on women, small-scale producers and environmental sustainability.

   It is crucial that policies are designed and implemented with the concern to support female producers. Women comprise 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. Yet they continue to have less access to assets, services and opportunities than men. According to the FAO, removing these gender inequalities could reduce the number of hungry people by 100-150 million.

    

3. Take action now to transparently regulate food markets and control price volatility.

   Price volatility is particularly harmful to people living in poverty, who spend most of their income on food. It is also detrimental to smallholder farmers, who find it hard to plan production or investments and confront risks of lost livelihood in the face of changing prices. G20 leaders must act both domestically and through multilateral mechanisms, in particular through the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, to reduce food price volatility. G20 countries can also help reduce excessive financial speculation through price limits, position limits and restrictions on passive speculation. 

4. Support new cost-effective systems to establish food reserves

   Food reserves must be created to support the most vulnerable during a crisis and to limit food price volatility. G20 leaders should assist by providing funding, building capacity and promoting local purchases to build the reserves. New systems should be supported at community, national and regional levels — as actions at the regional level can make it possible to address issues that are difficult to tackle at the national level (e.g. price volatility). In addition to regional integration, the effectiveness of food reserves also depends on other key factors, such as social protection and support for local producers.

5. Increase social protection programmes that work as safety nets during crises

   Investing in agriculture must go hand in hand with implementing social protection interventions, particularly for people who are most vulnerable to food insecurity and poor nutrition, such as female-headed households.

   Social protection programmes that provide safety nets must be of sufficient duration, flexible, adjusted against price inflation and, of course, specific to each context. For instance, hunger safety nets can include a nutrition component (micronutrient supplements or improvements in health conditions), and/or financial component (e.g.cash transfer), to ease the economic constraints of accessing a nutritious diet.

   Some G20 emerging economies offer significant insight into the implementation of such programmes and could play a key role in supporting all developing nations to provide social protection.

6. Build the resilience of people most affected by climate change by supporting adaptation measures. Increase states’ actions against climate change and help poor countries to cope with its impact.

   By 2050, the risk of hunger is projected to increase by 10 - 20%, and child undernutrition is anticipated to be 20% higher as compared to a scenario with no climate change. Adaptation measures are needed to ensure people’s food and nutrition security. These have to include developing agro-ecological techniques applicable to marginal and degraded lands and improving water management, with a focus on rain-fed smallholders who have the greatest room for food security improvements.

   G20 leaders must also agree to provide the resources needed for adaptation to climate change, based on public, private and innovative funding sources. These could include a financial transaction tax and a fair global mechanism to reflect the true cost of shipping emissions. G20 countries must also reinforce their commitment to cut domestic emissions, in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

7. Fully support the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and ensure the Rapid Response Forum has an expanded mandate to issue global alerts and take action when food prices rise.

   It is crucial to have a structured entity — the Rapid Response Forum — with the power to mobilize political and financial support when market prices rise, and the ability to promote early response to potential food price crises. This could play an important role in reducing the impact of catastrophes such as the one currently afflicting the Horn of Africa.

It is not acceptable that in the 21st Century, one-sixth of the world’s population still suffers from hunger. The G20 has the power, capacity and responsibility to take measures that will put an end to this.The FeedinG20 coalition calls upon other humanitarian and development organisations throughout the world to support these demands (www.feeding20.org) and ensure that the G20 acts to save more than just the financial system.