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One in nine people still going hungry: Oxfam
Countries must pay closer attention to the impacts of climate change, Oxfam has said, as if left unchecked, progress on hunger could be reversed
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ountries must pay closer attention to the impacts of climate change, Oxfam has said, as if left unchecked, progress on hunger could be reversed.
Citing new figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the non-profit aid agency said the number of people going hungry had dropped by 167 million in the last decade. However, it added, the total number of hungry people in the world was 795 million, which was still one in nine people.
Oxfam's food and climate policy advisor Kelly Dent said it was encouraging that fewer children, women and men were going hungry today.
'However, we are concerned that the progress in fighting hunger is slowing down,' she said in a statement on Thursday.
'We must not lose sight of the fact that in 2015, there
are still 795 million people not getting enough to eat in a world of plenty. This is unjust and inexcusable,' she went on.
According to data, the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa has risen by 14.3 million since 2010.
Dent said recent federal aid budget cuts made little sense in the face of rising hunger and malnutrition in this region.
'The Australian government has cut aid by US$193.1 million to this region since coming to office. In the May budget alone it was cut by 70 per cent, or by $74.2 million,' she said.
Meanwhile, in countries like Vietnam and China, rapid gains in addressing hunger have been made because they have invested in the rural economy and
small-scale producers.
Dent stressed that climate change was a key threat to efforts to overcome hunger and malnutrition.
Next week in Bonn, Germany, countries including Australia are scheduled to meet to refine and simplify the draft text of a new international climate agreement that will be finalized in Paris at the end of the year.
'A strong international climate agreement to limit warming to well below 2 degrees is essential if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including a worsening of hunger around the globe,' Dent said. (ebf)(+++)
