Last week, the G7 Leaders met in Apulia for their annual summit. In addition to addressing the multiple crises facing the world, it was notable that the G7 reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and to addressing the food security and nutrition crisis.
The G7 launched the Apulia Food Systems Initiative, which is significant in its focus on addressing the structural barriers to food security and nutrition and to building resilient sustainable and productive agriculture and food systems.
It supports a number of important initiatives to address the interconnectedness of climate change and food systems and referenced several aligned opportunities including the Brazil G20’s Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and Nutrition for Growth.
Unlike in 2009, when the G8 leaders at the time committed more than $20 billion for their response to the last major global food crisis–the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, this year, the G7 did not commit any additional funding to scale up action.
Disappointingly this G7 reflected the analysis conducted by IFPRI and the Rockefeller Foundation earlier this year–strong on rhetoric, no concrete commitment to scale up implementation.
As the IDA Deputies are meeting in Kathmandu this week for a key negotiation around the focus on the IDA2, advocates were also hoping to see the G7 set the level of ambition for this year’s IDA21 replenishment but there too the language was non-committal.
As Malawi’s minister of finance underscored–countries facing debt distress and a food and nutrition crisis need the support of the international community to transform their food systems.
With less than 6 years left to achieve SDG2 and the setbacks and risks to hunger and malnutrition due to the climate crisis, conflict and economic challenges, we need political leadership to deliver a concrete global plan to align policies and financing, and to improve coordination and accountability.
