UN, State Department Co-Host Food Security Meeting
Washington, DC, September 25, 2009 – Bread for the World commends the efforts of the United Nations and the State Department to devise a comprehensive and coordinated approach to achieving global food security.
"In the next 20 years, the world will have to produce 50 percent more food in order to meet the nutritional demands of an ever-growing global population, with an additional 1.8 billion people expected to be sharing the planet by that time," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, about the meeting, "Partnering for Food Security," which will be held tomorrow, Sept. 26, in New York. The meeting is co-hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"Real, long-term food security can only become a reality through robust and continued investment in increasing agricultural production while bolstering the impact of humanitarian food assistance through things like strengthened multilateral cooperation and local procurement," said Rev. Beckmann.
The food security meeting coincides with the opening of the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The meeting builds on the commitments made during the July 2009 G-8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy. There, leaders from more than 25 countries and organizations agreed on principles to support country-led food security strategies. They also pledged $20 billion for this effort.
Tomorrow's meeting in New York will bring together stakeholders to broaden support for these principles. They will discuss how best to implement them to reduce hunger, including more strategic coordination of humanitarian relief efforts to respond to acute crises, and more sustainable agricultural development and nutrition.
The world has witnessed a dramatic reversal in the progress against hunger and poverty in the last two years of the global financial upheaval. For the first time in history, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 1 billion people are suffering from hunger.
"We hope that world leaders attending the General Assembly this week will remember the pledges they have made to maintain their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals, especially ending hunger and poverty," said Rev. Beckmann.
David Beckmann reports on the World Hunger Initiative.
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Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers
to end hunger at home and abroad.
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.
