London Olympics To Hold Hunger SummitReported by Huffington Post on Thursday, 24 May 2012 (on May 24, 2012)
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London will use its spotlight to illuminate more than just the world's greatest athletes during the 2012 Olympics.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday plans to hold a hunger summit during this summer's games, the Guardian reports.
Specifics surrounding the hunger summit haven't been revealed, but a Downing Street spokeswoman told the Guardian that the aim is to build off of G8's promise. "We'll look to follow up on the Camp David [G8] initiative," the spokeswoman said, "focusing on how good governance and private sector investment can help improve access to food and nutrition."
Following Cameron's announcement, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released a statement calling upon the forthcoming summit to focus on investments in agriculture:
"We hope this event will build on the momentum generated by President Barack Obama’s increased commitment to nutrition and smallholder farmer productivity announced at the G8 last week. By making long-term investments in agriculture, the private sector, governments, and the wider development community can help reduce hunger and poverty, and build self-sufficiency for millions of poor farming families."
Cameron's announcement comes after last week's G8 summit, during which time eight of the world's industrialized leaders met in Maryland to pledge to fight hunger, poverty and other global issues.
Aid groups expressed disappointment with the outcome of this year's G8 meeting.
The G8 at L'Aquila in Italy in 2009 pledged $22 billion to help end hunger for 50 million people through agriculture and new investments by the end of this year. The Guardian reported aid groups were upset that more money wasn't pledged and that much of it hasn't been disbursed.
This year's G8 Summit, which focused on the tension between austerity and growth, failed to pledge more money and looked to the private sector in the fight against hunger, Reuters reported.
President Obama did announce $3 billion to fight hunger in Africa in private-sector funds, according to the Associated Press.
In a series called "Impact G8," HuffPost Impact bloggers called upon G8 leaders to hold up their end of the deal to fight poverty and hunger, among other issues.
Mahamadou Issoufo, executive director of the Federation of Unions of Farmers Groups and HuffPost blogger, called on G8 leaders to support country-led initiatives to achieve sustainable development.
"Three years ago at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, the world's richest countries made a promise: if poor countries came up with good plans to help poor farmers grow more and earn more, rich countries would help make it happen," Issoufo wrote. "Donor countries, including the United States, have helped, but it's been too little and too late."
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