Food for Thought

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PRESS RELEASE: ACTION AID, COP17, Durban

The UN estimates that the number of chronically malnourished people is set to reach over 1 billion people by the end of 2011 (15% of the world’s population). The World Bank estimates that high food prices have pushed 44 million people into extreme poverty in low and middle-income countries, and warn that food prices are at dangerous levels. The added impact of climate change is a further obstacle to ending poverty and realising human rights - global warming could put an extra 50 million people at risk of hunger by 2020.

Our energy and capacity to mobilise has never been so important. We currently have one of the worst humanitarian crises in 60 years unfolding in East Africa, global food prices soaring to record highs and the impacts of climate change are worsening. But most governments continue to sit on their hands .they must take the opportunity, not only to save lives today, but to act together to prevent future disasters. It is vital that we keep up the pressure for delivery of the commitment to halve world hunger by 2015.

8 out of 10 of the world’s smallholder farmers are women and it is these farmers who produce half the world’s food. However, these same women are also the most likely to go hungry. This is because food and agricultural policies in many poor countries often neglect the needs of smallholders, and our blind to the needs and constraints that women face.

If women in rural areas had the same access to education, training, technology, ?nancial serves and markets as men, the number of hungry people could be cut by 100-150 million – approximately 15% of the total worldwide.

Women farmers need control over land, water, seeds and other resources; they need subsidies and credit; they need extension support on sustainable, climate-resilient farming methods; and they need a just climate deal to stop global warming getting worse.

Over the coming months ActionAid will be asking world leaders to ensure that women smallholder farmers are supported to grow their way out of poverty and protect themselves from the food and climate crisis. Unless governments and donors invest in the speci?c needs of these women farmers, increase their rights to land and ease their unpaid care burden, hunger will never be eradicated.

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More info:  http://actionaid.org/hungerfreeRelated media
Contacts: http://www.actionaid.org/news/cop17-media-opportunity-notice
Updates from the conference: http://www.actionaid.org/cop17