2012 Olympic hunger summit

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Pictured outside 10 Downing Street on 12 August 2012. From left to right: Brazilian football legend Pelé, vice-president of Brazil Michel Temer, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Olympic double gold medallist Mo Farah

The 2012 Olympic hunger summit was an international gathering on 12 August, the closing day of the

NGOs
and from the private sector.

Since World War II, there had been uneven but substantial progress in reducing the number of people suffering from hunger. Yet in 2007, a lasting period of inflation to the price of food disrupted this progress in several parts of the world. The purpose of the summit was to raise awareness and activity in tackling the problem of world hunger and to announce various concrete initiatives. The event was broadly though cautiously welcomed by aid agencies. It was part of a wider international intensification of efforts to address the problem of hunger.

Background

Main article: Hunger § Politics of hunger
Gold medal winner Greg Rutherford, one of the athletes who urged David Cameron to use Britains 2013 presidency of the G8 to make the fight against hunger and malnutrition a top priority issue.

The Summit is part of a series of international efforts which have sought to respond to the "return of hunger" [1] as a high-profile global issue. While the problem of hunger had always remained a pressing concern for hundreds of millions of people, the previous few decades leading up to 2007 had seen considerable progress in reducing the number of people suffering from the condition. The

Indian monsoon had raised fears of a possible third global food crisis.[1][4][5][6]

David Cameron announced his intention to hold the Olympic hunger summit in May 2012, a few days after President

Save the children had expressed the view that it would be good if Mr Cameron could contribute to the international momentum building to tackle hunger and malnutrition; Britain is due to assume the presidency of the G8 in 2013. Just prior to the summit, Cameron was further urged to do this by a group of athletes in an open letter.[4][7]
[8]

Attendees

  • Co host Michel Temer, the vice-president of Brazil, a nation which has made exemplary progress over recent years in reducing hunger among its population, and which will host the next Summer Olympics in 2016.
  • Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who plans to keep hunger high on the agenda for the European Union when Ireland takes over presidency of the EU in 2013.
  • Other politicians including Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, EU development minister Andris Piebalgs, plus high-level officials from India and Kenya.
  • Sportsmen including Mo Farah, Pelé and Haile Gebrselassie.
  • The summit was also attended by members of various aid organisations, business leaders from the private sector and by food scientists.[4][9][10][11]

Announcements

A commitment was made to reduce the number of children left stunted by malnourishment by as much as 25 million prior to the 2016 Olympics, with the EU alone taking responsibility for reducing the number by 7 million. India is doubling their budget for improving nutrition and health, which could affect 100 million women and children. The Children's Investment Fund Foundation announced a multimillion-pound annual investment to reduce stunting and malnutrition.

The UN's World Food Programme is to provide assistance for Rwandan farmers to grow iron-rich beans for emergency food relief. Private sector companies including Unilever, Syngenta and GSK undertook to improving the affordability of nutritious food in poor regions. Britain will fund research into crops that are both drought-resistant and rich in nutrients, as well as research into nutritious seeds and tubers, such as the sweet potato.[4][12][13][14]

Reception

The summit has been broadly welcomed by aid agencies. Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, wrote that the boost provided by the summit to the fight against hunger could turn out to be the "real legacy"

bio fuel instead of food. Writing just before the summit, British food bank network The Trussell Trust warned that attention is also needed for the growing problem of domestic hunger within Britain, where millions are now suffering from food insecurity.[1][4][10][15]

External links

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Editorial (2012-08-10). "Hunger summit: think small". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  2. ^ Whereas prior to the L'Aquila Initiative, interest was mainly restricted to the governments of the worst affected developing countries, multilateral organizations and NGOs.
  3. ^ SUN was one of the initiatives that the olympic hunger summit aimed to draw attention to: Scaling up Nutrition home page
  4. ^ a b c d e Mark Tran (2012-08-13). "UK hunger summit's focus on global malnutrition receives cautious welcome". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  5. The Financial Times
    . Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  6. ^ "Cameron drafts Olympians for hunger summit". Aljazeera. 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  7. ^ Les Roopanarine (2012-05-23). "London 2012: David Cameron to hold hunger summit during Olympic Games". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  8. ^ "London Olympic 2012: Athletes back campaign against hunger". Zee News. 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  9. Raidió Teilifís Éireann
    . 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  10. ^ a b George Monbiot (2012-08-10). "Must the poor go hungry just so the rich can drive?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  11. ^ "Sport stars get behind Olympic hunger summit". 10 Downing Street. 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  12. ^ Going for Gold: Orange Sweet Potato and the Olympic Hunger Summit
  13. ^ a b Justin Forsyth (2012-08-12). "The 2012 hunger summit could be the real legacy of the Games". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  14. ^ As is common at international summits, most or all of these initiatives had already been decided in advance, and several of them had already been announced.
  15. ^ "'Don't ignore the hunger on our doorstep' UK foodbank charity warns ahead of Olympic Hunger Summit" (PDF). The Trussell Trust. 2012-08-09. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
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