THE NEED FOR UK ACTION ON GLOBAL HUNGER - Enough Food IF

executive Summary‘the future DepenDS onWhat We Do in the preSent.’(GANDHI)‘We have the meanS; Wehave the capacity toeLiminate hunger from theface of the earth in ourLifetime. We neeD onLy theWiLL.’ (JOHN F. KENNEDy, 1963)all around the world, a quiet andmomentous change is happening –people are lifting themselves out ofpoverty. In the past 10 years morethan 50 million children have startedgoing to school in sub-saharan africa,while deaths from the great killer,measles, have fallen by almost 75 percent. 1 we are some way along oneof the most important roads humanbeings have ever travelled – the roadtowards ending extreme povertyfor everyone, everywhere. we areat a tipping point. we could be thegeneration to ensure every woman,child and man gets a fair chanceat life.There is still, however, a yawninggap. There is enough food in theworld to feed everyone, yet one ineight women, men and children goto bed hungry every night. 2 eachyear, 2.3 million children die frommalnutrition; 3 women are more likelyto go hungry compared to men. Thereis enough food to feed everyone, butthe majority of those going hungryare small-scale farmers. women, whorepresent 60-80 per cent of smallscale farmers, often have their rightsto land denied. 4 There is enough foodfor everyone, but people cannotafford to buy it. food prices haverecently been at their highest indecades and are increasingly volatile;and in developing countries, poorpeople often spend as much as threequarters of their income on food.even in the uK, many hardworkingpeople struggle to find the money tofeed their families, with high foodprices compounding the effects ofthe economic crisis. and our climateis changing, making our global futureincreasingly uncertain.some countries have made enormousstrides towards reducing hunger.The proportion of hungry people inethiopia fell from nearly two thirdsto under half, and in malawi from 45to 23 per cent, in just a decade. 5 butthe world as a whole is failing badly.we promised at the millennium thatby 2015 we would halve hunger, butthere is little prospect of keepingthat promise.by failing now, we are failing futuregenerations: by 2025 nearly a billionyoung people will face povertybecause of the damage done to themnow through hunger and malnutrition.yet, no one need be hungry ormalnourished. getting enough ofthe right food gives people theirfuture and builds the potential for allsocieties to prosper – and there arereal opportunities to make progresstowards eradicating hunger. If weact to ensure small-scale farmers –women and men – can keep hold oftheir land to grow food; if we crackdown on tax dodgers depriving poorcountries of resources to ensurethe right to food; if we work forglobal agreement on new sourcesof climate finance; if all of this isunderpinned by transparency, ruleof law and strong institutions; and ifwe fulfil our existing commitmentsof aid to developing countries andinvest enough of this in agricultureand nutrition – then the world has achance to end the scandal of hunger.6