Hunger’s Solution Might Not Be Found at the FAO World Summit on Food Security
November 16th, 2009 By Paula Crossfield
Big news came on Friday, when the USDA announced that Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan would lead the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Ministerial Conference in Rome, Italy, taking place this week from November 18-23. She will chair the conference, the first time a woman has done so. In the press release, Merrigan had this to say:
President Obama has committed the United States to a whole-of-government approach to tackle the problem of global food security and the United States will work with more than 130 countries as we move forward with this important effort.
Today, in the days before the ministerial conference, the FAO World Summit on Food Security begins. The summit has already been criticized for its draft declaration [pdf], which doesn’t commit to previously discussed plans of ending hunger by 2025 or the $44 billion in annual aid needed to meet this aim. Read More