28 January 2009 - Urgent action is needed to prevent hundreds of millions more people slipping into hunger as a result of volatile food prices and increasing energy and water scarcity, said international agency Oxfam today. Decades of underinvestment in agriculture coupled with the increasing threat of climate change mean that despite recent price falls, future food security is by no means guaranteed, and in fact the situation could get worse, said Oxfam at the conclusion of the UN conference in Madrid this week to address the issue.

The conference has been a reminder to the world of the need for continued political attention on helping the world's 1 billion hungry people feed themselves, especially in the context of a global financial crisis.

Rich countries need to keep promises they made to help agricultural development: so far less than 20 per cent of the money promised at last year's Food Summit in Rome has been disbursed.

The New Zealand Government needs to play its part in supporting agricultural development in its neighbourhood. In East Timor, where Oxfam New Zealand works to help increase farmers' yields from rice and coffee production, the population is still struggling with last year's food prices hikes - the number of children under 5 now suffering from chronic malnutrition has climbed to 59 per cent.

Two new reports have been published this week, detailing the threats to global food security and exposing the lack of adequate coordinated international action to tackle hunger.

The reports, A Billion Hungry People and The Feeding of the Nine Billion are published by Oxfam and the UK think tank, Chatham House respectively, and together are a call to action to politicians, and representatives from the private sector and civil society meeting to discuss the implementation of the UN Taskforce's response.

Although global food prices have fallen in the last few months, they are not back to previous levels, and are likely to rise sharply again in the future. Furthermore, price volatility itself is a problem, and more needs to be done to address the underlying structural issue that cause the chronic hunger affecting 1 in 6 people in the world today, says Oxfam.

Carlos Galian, agricultural policy expert at Oxfam, said: "This should be a wake-up call for all those who believe that the food crisis is over. World leaders have a window of opportunity to prevent a worse situation resulting from the triple crunch of the economic crisis, climate change, and energy and water scarcity. They must act urgently to turn their plans into coordinated action that addresses immediate needs and begins to implement long-term reforms. Failure to act will see millions more people falling into hunger."

Oxfam said current severe food shortages in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are evidence that the global food crisis is far from over. Even before recent price rises, there were over 850m people classified as undernourished. Now, there are nearly a billion, as a result of the price rises, alongside other factors such as political instability and conflict.

"Not enough has been done to tackle the situation. There is a lack of coordination at all levels and the opportunity for root and branch reform of the aid system has not yet been taken. International institutions and donors must reverse decades of under-investment in agriculture and scrap blatantly distortionary polices such as biofuels mandates that make things worse," said Galian, who attended the conference.

Oxfam New Zealand's Executive Director, Barry Coates noted that coherent policies on trade and climate change are urgently required. "Developing countries not only need more aid funding to be focused on the needs of small scale producers, they also need trade policies that strengthen agriculture in the developing world and promote sustainability. The recent decision by the EU to reinstate export subsidies for their dairy farmers is the direct opposite of what's needed. It is a retrograde step that calls into question their commitment to longer term reforms."

Coates added, "One of the other major challenges for 2009 will be for all countries, including New Zealand, to agree an ambitious outcome of the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will be required to limit the incidence of extreme weather conditions resulting from global warming, and to avoid the potential for a significant growth in the numbers of people living in hunger and vulnerability."

The Feeding of the Nine Billion, published by Chatham House and part-funded by Oxfam, predicts demand for food will increase as the world's population grows by 2.5bn to 9.2bn by 2050. It also notes a UN prediction that climate change will increase the number of undernourished people worldwide by between 40m and 170m.

Meanwhile, Oxfam's A Billion Hungry People includes recommendations for reform of the humanitarian aid system and makes a strident call to poor countries to do their bit by investing more in agriculture, targeting women and small-scale producers. Developing countries must increase social protection measures for vulnerable populations - including cash payments and employment creation schemes for those at risk of hunger. Rich countries must ensure long-term predictable funding to developing countries for investment in agriculture and climate change adaptation.