Former U.N. SG Annan criticizes G20 for not taking more action on climate change that affects food security

Speaking at the launch of Stanford University's Center for Food Security and the Environment at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies on Thursday, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "criticized world leaders ... for failing to take bold action on climate change, which he said threatens to worsen the food crisis that has already left a billion people hungry," ABC News reports. "Failing to address the problem will have repercussions on health, security and stability, he warned," the news service writes. He "praised 'Feed the Future,' the U.S. initiative to reduce poverty and under-nutrition, and said he met recently with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and [USAID Administrator] Raj Shah," ABC News writes. Annan said, "If we pool our efforts and resources we can finally break the back of this problem" (Donald, 11/11).

Inter Press Service reports on reaction to last week's G20 meeting in Cannes, France, where "G20 leaders ended the summit declaring they fully understood that 'Promoting agricultural production is the key to feeding the world's population.'" According to IPS, "[t]he G20 also agreed to the creation of food reserves to assist in the fight against poverty and hunger but experts believe this ... is a largely symbolic gesture." The article includes comments from several experts, including Olivier de Schutter, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, and representatives of Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and ATD Fourth World (Fattoorehchi, 11/10).