Berlin, May 17, 2022 – Ahead of the G7 Development Ministers’ meeting, Action Against Hunger warns of devastating hunger crises around the world. The organization is calling on G7 countries to launch a food and nutrition security alliance and immediately provide a multi-billion-dollar support package to save the most vulnerable children, women and men from starvation.
The Russian war on Ukraine has not only created a dramatic crisis in the country itself, it is also exacerbating the food situation in other regions and creating a global hunger crisis that threatens the lives of millions. Every 1 percent increase in global food prices results in an additional 10 million people falling into extreme poverty. Food prices have already risen 34 percent in the last year. In addition, at least 45 million people were already on the brink of famine in 2021.
“In East Africa, in the Sahel region, in Afghanistan and in Yemen: Hunger crises are worsening worldwide. The effect of the Ukraine war is primarily hitting people who were already at risk by the wars, conflicts, and the climate crisis beforehand. The experience of 2011 has shown that a rise in food prices can lead to hunger crises and massive social and political unrest. The G7 countries must now provide money for hunger relief and food aid before the situation escalates,” says Onome Ako, CEO of Action Against Hunger Canada.
Hunger relief was already on the agenda at the G7 summit in Elmau in 2015, with the goal of freeing 500 million people from hunger. The results are more than sobering: more than 800 million people go hungry worldwide today. Achieving the second global development goal by 2030 is a distant prospect. This makes it even more important that the G7 countries now reaffirm, expand and implement their goals.
Action Against Hunger calls for the G7 countries to launch a food and nutrition security alliance and to implement a multi-billion support package for the most vulnerable quickly and flexibly. In addition to emergency assistance, the package should include an agreement on life-saving food production, investment in social protection measures including cash transfers, and concrete steps to transition to sustainable and equitable food systems.
“Further exacerbating the dramatic food situation is the fact that financial investors are speculating on food. Betting on hunger and making money from it is inhumane. Policymakers must take urgent action here and lower the speculation caps,” said Ako.