Campaigners issue warning on Cameron’s ‘hunger summit’

Date: 10 August 2012

On Sunday, David Cameron will attempt to capitalise on the international presence in London for the Olympics to convene a ‘hunger summit’ – but campaigners have warned that the prime minister’s big business approach ‘risks entrenching the root causes of hunger’.

Political and business leaders and humanitarian groups at the summit are expected to announce a new target to reduce child malnutrition by the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. Former England football captain David Beckham has presented a letter to David Cameron urging him to tackle deprivation of essential nutrients early in a child’s life, which causes stunted growth.

The World Development Movement’s food campaigner Amy Horton said today:

“It’s great that David Cameron is using the Olympics to focus attention on the need to reverse the rising incidence of child malnutrition. But by promoting the role of big business in developing countries’ food markets, his approach risks entrenching the root causes of hunger.  

“Increasing the power of multinational companies over the world’s food is not going to improve child nutrition. Instead of corporate land grabs, we need local control over the resources on which food production depends. We need governments to be able to regulate international trade and limit financial sector speculation on the price of food commodities. And we need to move away from the current energy-intensive, wasteful food system to one that is sustainable and fair.”