Last updated 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 2012 Summer Olympics, held at 10 Downing Street London. The event was organised largely by the Department for International Development. It was co-hosted by Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, and by Brazil's vice president Michel Temer. The summit was attended by several high-profile athletes and by delegates from various national governments, the United Nations, 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.
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 Green Revolution of the 1960s and 70s had helped propagate improved agricultural technology throughout the world. Progress had been uneven, yet the years that followed generally saw a reduction in the number of people suffering from hunger both as a percentage of the total world population and even in absolute terms. At the turn of the century, estimates from the World Bank suggested that the numbers suffering from chronic hunger had been reduced to close to 800 million, and the Millennium Development Goals included a commitment to achieve a further 50% reduction by 2015. By 2008 it was apparent that meeting this goal would be challenging. In some parts of the world, the numbers suffering from hunger had stopped falling, rising due to the lasting global inflation in the price of food which began in late 2006. In 2008, a global food crisis saw food riots breaking out in dozens of countries, with governments toppled in Haiti and Madagascar. By 2009, World Bank figures suggested the numbers suffering from chronic hunger had increased to just over a billion. Since the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative which was launched at the July 2009 G8 Summit, hunger has remained a high-profile issue among the leaders of the advanced economies.[2] 2009 also saw the launch of the UN's Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) programme, which has developed into a global movement led principally by developing nations.[3] SUN aims to address the issue of nutrition as well as raw hunger. As a response to the global food crises which began in 2007, some regions have raised production of drought and pest resistant crops such as Cassava. While good for providing raw calories, the crop has limited nutritional value and some strains even have anti-nutritional factors if not cooked properly. Millions of children who do not receive adequate nutrition are at risk of permanent stunted growth, even if they are eating a normal amount of calories. The second global food crisis of the 21st century began in late 2010; the 2011 East Africa drought followed shortly afterwards. By mid-2012, the 2012 US drought and a weak 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 Barack Obama had launched the "new alliance for food security and nutrition" at the 2012 G8 Summit. British NGOs such as ONE and 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.
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" [13] of the 2012 games. Molly Kinder, director for Agriculture and European policy at ONE, told The Guardian she was impressed with the substantive nature of the Summit's outcome, and especially with the EU committing to a specific target, something they rarely do. There has however been concern that the partnerships with big private sector players may distract from the role other large Corporations sometimes have in aggravating hunger, by manipulating global markets to their advantage, and in some cases by purchasing large areas of land in African countries and then driving small holders from their farms. George Monbiot says the summit may distract from the West's role in worsening hunger by setting targets that cause arable lands to be used to produce 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]
↑ Whereas prior to the L'Aquila Initiative, interest was mainly restricted to the governments of the worst affected developing countries, multilateral organizations and NGOs.
↑ 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.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is an international organization that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to "let there be bread". It was founded on 16 October 1945.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961, WFP is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries. As of 2021, it supported over 128 million people across more than 120 countries and territories.
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.
Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, food security is defined as meaning that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. The availability of food irrespective of class, gender or region is another element of food security. There is evidence of food security being a concern many thousands of years ago, with central authorities in ancient China and ancient Egypt being known to release food from storage in times of famine. At the 1974 World Food Conference, the term "food security" was defined with an emphasis on supply; food security is defined as the "availability at all times of adequate, nourishing, diverse, balanced and moderate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices". Later definitions added demand and access issues to the definition. The first World Food Summit, held in 1996, stated that food security "exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues and form. Malnutrition is not receiving the correct amount of nutrition. Malnutrition is increasing in children under the age of five due to providers who cannot afford or do not have access to adequate nutrition.
Helen Keller International combats the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on evidence and research in vision, health and nutrition. Founded in 1915 by Helen Keller and George A. Kessler, the organization's mission is to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Make Poverty History are organizations in a number of countries, which focus on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally form a coalition of aid and development agencies which work together to raise awareness of global poverty and achieve policy change by governments. The movement exists or has existed in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. The various national campaigns are part of the international Global Call to Action Against Poverty campaign.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center founded in the early 1970s to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology. Additionally, IFPRI was meant to shed more light on the role of agricultural and rural development in the broader development pathway of a country. The mission of IFPRI is to provide research-based policy solutions that sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a non-profit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. GAIN was developed at the UN 2002 Special Session of the General Assembly on Children. GAIN’s actions include improving the consumption of nutritious and safe foods for all. They are supported by over 30 donors and work closely with international organisations and United Nations agencies. Their activities include improving consumption of nutritious food globally. The organisation has a 20 year history of food system programmes: focusing on adolescent and child nutrition, food system research, fortification, small and medium enterprise assistance, biofortification of crops and reducing post-harvest losses.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool that attempts to measure and track hunger globally as well as by region and by country, prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. The GHI is calculated annually, and its results appear in a report issued in October each year.
Nutrition International, formerly the Micronutrient Initiative (MI), is an international not for profit agency based in Canada that works to eliminate vitamin and mineral deficiencies in developing countries. Although often only required by the body in very small amounts, vitamin and minerals – also known as micronutrients – support an array of critical biological functions including growth, immune function and eye function, as well as foetal development of the brain, the nervous system, and the skeletal system. Micronutrient deficiency is a form of malnutrition and is a recognized health problem in many developing countries. Globally, more than two billion people live with vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014, an increase of 216 million since 1990, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone—7 billion people—and could feed more than that—12 billion people.
Chronic hunger has affected a sizable proportion of the UK's population throughout its history. Following improved economic conditions that followed World War II, hunger became a less pressing issue. Yet since the lasting global inflation in the price of food that began in late 2006 and especially since the financial crisis of 2009, long term hunger began to return as a prominent social problem. Albeit only affecting a small minority of the UK's population. By December 2013, according to a group of doctors and academics writing in the British Medical Journal, hunger in the UK had reached the level of a "public health emergency".
The Feed the Future Initiative (FTF) was launched in 2010 by the United States government and the Obama Administration to address global hunger and food insecurity. According to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, it is "the U.S. government's global food security initiative."
Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) is an initiative that seeks to "support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. The initiative focuses on building high-level policy as well as public and private institutional support for open data."
Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the world; a home for more than 160 million people. It progresses immensely in human development, particularly in the areas of literacy and life expectancy, but economic inequality has increased and about 32%, i.e. 50 million people still live in extreme poverty.
Chad currently suffers from widespread food insecurity. A majority of the population of Chad now suffers some form of malnutrition. 87% of its population lives below the poverty line. Because the country is arid, landlocked, and prone to droughts, many Chadians struggle to meet their daily nutritional needs. While international aid into the country has brought some relief, the situation in Chad remains severe due to broader famine in the Sahel region. The World Food Programme has declared a state of emergency in the region since early 2018, stating that, “...adding to the poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition which already affects [the nations of the Sahel] to varying degrees, drought, failed harvests and the high prices of staple foods have hastened the arrival of this year’s ‘lean season’ – the worst since 2014.” Malnutrition is high, especially among women and children, with a significant majority of all children in Chad suffering from some form of stunted growth or adverse health effects as a result. As such, health in Chad is greatly affected by lack of food. Food insecurity is a symptom of broader instability in Chad, which suffers from political, ethnic, and religious instability. These issues have contributed to long-term food insecurity in Chad.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to achieve "zero hunger". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". SDG 2 highlights the complex inter-linkages between food security, nutrition, rural transformation and sustainable agriculture. According to the United Nations, there are around 690 million people who are hungry, which accounts for slightly less than 10 percent of the world population. One in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, including 20 million people currently at risk of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.
In mid-2021, a severe drought in southern Madagascar caused hundreds of thousands of people, with some estimating more than 1 million people, to suffer from food insecurity or famine. Some organizations have attributed the situation to the impact of climate change and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
2022 saw a rapid increase in food prices and shortages of food supplies around the world. The compounding crises in distinct parts of the world were caused by compounding geopolitical and economic crisis. The crises followed food security and economic crises during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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