ONE Calls for Long-Term Strategy to Address Food Crisis

Washington, DC – More than 40,000 Americans responded to the urgent call the ONE Campaign sent to its 2.4 million members less than 24 hours ago, asking them to press President Bush to prioritize the food crisis at the upcoming G8 Summit in Japan in July.

The soaring cost of staple foods and the resulting hunger crisis has caused riots from Haiti to Bangladesh, threatens hundreds of thousands of people with starvation and could push one hundred million more people deeper into poverty. “ONE members across the United States are taking immediate action to get global poverty and the world hunger crisis on the agenda of the G8 Summit this July in Japan,” explained David Lane, President and CEO of ONE. “In addition to securing additional resources for all types of food assistance, this crisis requires a long-term strategy to stimulate increased agricultural productivity in developing countries. ONE members are calling for a long-term strategy that addresses the underlying causes of the current crisis.”
On Monday, President Bush pledged $200 million on behalf of the United States, which the ONE Campaign applauds. This is a step in the right direction, but will not end the crisis. It may not even be enough to keep food programs at their current levels.
Sharp increases in the price of wheat, rice and corn threaten to undermine recent gains in poverty reduction and frustrate already slow progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The current situation threatens to exacerbate the twin crises of hunger and malnutrition; already, under-nutrition contributes to almost half of all child deaths and more than 20% of maternal deaths. Due to the strong links between hunger and malnutrition and economic productivity, educational outcomes and the ability to fight disease, rising food prices also threaten to undermine poverty reduction efforts across the board.
“The current crisis could cause long-term damage to the hard-fought development progress that’s been made. The international community needs to address the problem of rising food prices and renew global efforts to increase agricultural development as a tool to combat hunger and malnutrition,” Lane concluded.