Charities unite to launch new ‘What If’ campaign
THE BIGGEST charity coalition since Make Poverty History was launched this week, uniting 100 major charities to tackle the hunger trap that will affect almost a billion young people by 2025.
‘Enough Food For Everyone IF…’ warns that in a world where there is enough food for everyone, the scandal of children growing up hungry imposes a ‘grave economic burden on the developing world, costing £78 billion over the next 15 years’.
The project was launched on Wednesday at Somerset House in London, hosted by Lauren Laverne and featuring Bill Nighy and Richard Curtis, calling for the Prime Minister David Cameron to use UK’s G8 presidency in 2013 to tackle the root causes of hunger.
The IF movement challenges the Prime Minister to tackle 4 big Ifs: If we stop farmers being forced off their land and use the available land to grow food for people, not biofuel for cars… If governments keep their promises on aid, invest to stop children dying from malnutrition and help the poorest people feed themselves through investment in small farmers... If government close loopholes to stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, so that millions of people can free themselves from hunger... If we force government and investors to be honest and open about the deals they make in the poorest counties that stop people getting enough food.
In the report released on Wednesday, supported by charities and philanthropist Bill Gates and Desmond Tutu, warnings are made of the human and economic cost of hunger in a world where there is enough food.
As well as the 937 million children and young people (aged 15-40) whose life chances will be permanently damaged by the impact of childhood hunger by 2025, the report estimates that malnutrition will be costing developing countries an annual $125 billion in lost economic output by 2030.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “Hunger is not an incurable disease or an unavoidable tragedy.
“We can make sure no child goes hungry. We can stop mothers from starving themselves to feed their families. We can save lives.
“We can do all of this, IF we are prepared to do something about it. IF we challenge our leaders. IF they listen to us.”
The leading Anglican continued: “It’s time the world’s decision-makers came to the right decision on hunger. It’s time to end unnecessary suffering by the failure of the current food system. We can make hunger a thing of the past IF we act now.”
Christian Aid, one of the many charity and aid organisations involved in the campaign, hope the project will enable to help them reach more people, such as Maria Kamchize, 43, a single parent with four children and lives in Southern Malawi.
In recent years she has struggled to harvest enough maize to feed her family for more than four months of the year, due to the changes in climate. But now, with the help of Christian Aid partner the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), she has been able to increase maize production by threefold using new small-scale irrigation and conservation agriculture techniques.