Economic stimulus enough to end global hunger
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GuidesWeek for week ending December 13th, 2008
It’s been a disturbing week. I kept reading that things were getting much worse more quickly than anticipated. The world economy is plunging into recession faster than predicted even a month ago. There is talk of interest rates falling to zero. Global hunger is supposed to be heading into history. But in its State of Food Insecurity in the World published this week, the FAO reported that hunger is rising. The total of undernourished people is now close to one billion.
This conjunction of unseasonal misery is not itself what’s bothering me because my work with OneWorld Guides gives me plenty of warning. It’s the political responses emerging during the week that are unsettling.
On Tuesday the director-general of the FAO said there was “little sign” that the $30 billion pa cost of reviving agriculture in poor countries would be forthcoming. At Poznan, countries failed to agree on any new financial mechanisms to support the UN Adaptation Fund. Created to help developing countries defend themselves against the effects of climate change, the Fund needs over $80 billion pa. It currently stands at $80 million. I’m not sure that we can behold this week’s work and, in the style of Genesis, pronounce that it was very good. I would prefer instead to borrow an idea of the Guardian columnist, Simon Jenkins, who suggested on Wednesday that the UK government’s economic recovery plan would work much better if the Chancellor simply gave every citizen £1,000 to spend. I can’t help noticing that all the stimulus plans of the world’s rich countries are likely to add up to a nice round sum of $1,000 for each for those billion people fighting hunger. ****** Poznan Films and Interviews from OneClimate OneWorld Guides for reference: Climate Change; Carbon Fallout - the impact on developing countries; Food Security OneWorld Guides updated this week: Jordan; Lebanon ****** |
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