Advocates urge Obama to address food security at upcoming G8 meeting

"[A]nti-poverty advocates [are] urg[ing] President Obama to 'find political will to end global hunger' during the upcoming G8 Summit at Camp David," Inter Press Service reports. Members of ActionAid last week held signs in front of the White House "that read 'Obama: Find the Will to be a Hunger Hero at the G8,' next to a cutout of the president in a superhero suit," the news service writes (Panagoda, 4/7). And "[a] new report by ONE Campaign said increased donor support for agricultural investment plans in 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America could lift about 50 million people out of extreme poverty," Reuters notes. "ONE said it would launch its 'Thrive' campaign in France, Germany, Britain and the United States to highlight the need to tackle the causes of hunger," the news service notes.

"ONE called on the G8 summit to agree on a new compact on food security and nutrition ... [to] build on a G8 agreement in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009 to mobilize $20 billion over three years to increase agriculture investments in poor countries, ONE said," Reuters writes, adding that the group "also called on G8 nations to ensure a new push to encourage private sector investment in agriculture and adopt measures to tackle food price volatility" (Wroughton, 4/10). ActionAid advocates "are calling out for a new financial pledge for a new food security initiative upholding the five 'Rome Principles' set during the 2009 World Summit on Food Security," IPS notes. "The Rome principles basically hold countries accountable for investing in country-led plans in a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable way. We would like to see the Rome principles, not just as principles countries should abide by, but as the fundamental framework for a new food security initiative," Katie Campbell, senior policy analyst at ActionAid USA, said, the news service writes (4/7).